Building Community Engagement by Opening the Door to Your Neighbor
The following article is a Guest article by Doug Shipman from the Fall 2013 Making a Difference magazine talking about building community engagement. Click here to read the entire magazine.
Building Community Engagement by Opening the Door to Your Neighbor
By Doug Shipman
There are many cherished relationships we hold sacred to us; sometimes they change and other times they grow. One of the more exceptional bonds can be the relationship between
neighbors. In fact, many have related the neighbor relationship as being an act of deep love and care. As the State of Georgia diversifies along lines of race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation and physical attributes, the idea that being a neighbor is an expression of love becomes a bit more complex.
How do you love someone you barely know and seemingly lack common ground with? Fifty years ago due to segregation and living patterns, the demographics of specific areas of the American South were very reminiscent of a relatively small, culturally homogeneous community. Neighborhoods were commonly divided by race or economic status. Religious minorities often hid their faith, gay individuals denied their sexuality and those with disabilities were often shunned by families and society. This made getting to know the person next door simple often due to the homogeneity of one neighbor from the next.
Today, these same neighborhoods of the past are experiencing cultural transformations across many lines of identity. As neighborhoods continue to diversify and our communities become culturally more diverse and physically more accessible, it is important to value neighborly love and demonstrate acceptance of the unfamiliar. One of the aspects of the past we may need to reconsider is the power of the visit to a neighbor. Entering a person's home with a sense of understanding and openness may be the surest way into their heart. Ideally, building genuine relationships in a comfortable manner and allowing for the exchange of personal opinions and needs without the fear of being culturally exclusive should be a common personal goal.
Andrew Young, a politician, diplomat, activist and pastor from Georgia, once said that he never started a diplomatic negotiation before first having a dinner together. Though we may agree with the notion of knocking on our neighbor's door, many of us feel that we lack the relationship or skills to make the first move. So, the question remains how do we start the process of building community with those most unlike us?
First and foremost, we all have to be able to enter their home. Accessibility has a way to go. Second, we have to make a commitment to try and try again. Each of us, no matter our background or perspective, should commit ourselves to making the first move.
A man who arguably is our nation's ultimate neighbor, Mr. Fred Rogers, once stated that "Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now." This quote explicitly expresses the great effort it takes to truly connect with someone, and the feeling of reward two people can achieve when coming together to overcome life's obstacles.
Each of us more than ever needs to "strive" in order to "accept" others. So often we shrink from knocking and tell ourselves that if our neighbors want to know us, they will come knock on our door. Sadly, the neighborhood remains quiet except for the blaring of our televisions with loud debates about issues of rights and identity.
Understanding how to become a better neighbor in a community should also apply on a larger level. Historically, the best social justice movements have always been made possible by the means of societal transformation. In past peaceful revolutions, those oppressed have not only liberated themselves or improved the environment to meet their needs, but have also liberated oppressors from the mindset, thus leading to reconciliation and a new societal norm.
American examples have included the Suffrage Movement, the Modern Civil Rights Movement for African-American freedom and the Modern Disability Rights Movement. Internationally we see entire societal transformation examples in India, South Africa, Ireland and Eastern Europe. Building relationships can go beyond the individual exchange and can reshape the way society thinks about groups and the future of the community.
Many social justice movements have places of scholarship or museums dedicated to education, but until recently, an institution with a mission across all civil and human rights movements has not existed in the United States. The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, currently under construction on a new facility in downtown Atlanta, is the first institution to embody the totality of rights movements nationally and internationally.
Beyond the exhibitions, media center, event space, educational programs and cultural events, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights will be a new kind of facility where rights movements, lessons and techniques can be presented in the same place, thus giving visitors and scholars a chance to learn from the comparison between movements. The Center will also uniquely present stories of individuals and rights organizations using technology to both inform and inspire. Each visitor to the Center will have the opportunity to build their ability to relate to new neighbors the world over.
As our communities become more diverse and also move further away from direct memories of historical social movements, the twin strategies of direct engagement combined with educational initiatives like the National Center for Civil and Human Rights can help increase the interest and knowledge of rights issues in order for each of us to have a greater empathy and capacity for relationships with wider and wider groups of Georgians.
For more information on nchr, visit www.cchrpartnership.org.
Doug Shipman's Bio:
Doug Shipman is currently serving as the chief executive officer of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR). Shipman was most recently a principal in the Atlanta office of the Boston Consulting Group. He is the founding CEO and has been with the Center since the
inception of the project in 2005.
Shipman has guest lectured at several institutions including Bard, Duke, Emory and the Centers for Disease Control. He has been featured in numerous publications
and broadcasts including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and TEDxAtlanta. He has an extensive educational background in issues of race, ethnicity and gender including the history of American minority groups and religion as applied in social movements.
Shipman has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from the Harvard
Divinity School and a bachelor's degree with high honors from Emory. He can be found on twitter @dougship.
