What is the unmet need that has just been expressed?

November 10, 2016 in Uncategorized

I wish I could say that I am shocked by the racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and white supremacy in this country that led, in part, to the election of Donald Trump, but I am not. Having done diversity work for 30+ years, I am not shocked by the fact that racism has always existed, that our nation was founded on racist principles, that our systems are rife with racism. It went underground, perhaps, in some well-educated and polite portions of our society, but it’s always still been there. If you’re a white person and you are shocked, you haven’t been paying attention to your friends who are people of color, or perhaps you don’t have any friends who are people of color, who are gay, who are trans, who are Muslim, who are disabled. There’s no time to rue that fact; let’s change it.

In my Hard Conversations: Intro to Racism course, I show the clip that is featured above. In it, Marshall Rosenberg talks about “nonviolent communication,” a type of communication our nation needs now more than ever. Watch and listen.

Here are the questions we must now ask ourselves:

What are the unmet needs that have just been expressed via our democratic process? The core unmet needs, not the superficial ones.

What are the unmet needs of those opposed to having Donald Trump serve as our nation’s President?

In what way can we find commonality among those two seemingly conflicting unmet needs in order to move forward together?

And in all interactions: How can I be in full presence to what is alive in this other person?

Obviously, the ways in which we are communicating at present are not working. We have become a nation of screamers across a wide divide, and our screams are getting distorted and all meaning is lost.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

3 comments to " What is the unmet need that has just been expressed? "


Amber Temerity

November 10, 2016 AT 10:10AM

Would love to share this across multiple platforms, but it doesn’t appear as though you have a “share” option? Having only just now stumbled across your site, I’m not sure if this is intentional or…?

Great article regardless, I especially love your last sentence – the screams are most certainly distorted, loud and unintelligible :-/
- Reply
  
  Patti Digh
  
  November 10, 2016 AT 10:13AM
  
  Can you copy the URL for the post and share in that way?

Sonya S W

November 10, 2016 AT 10:24AM

Thank you, Patti. Unlike so many of my friends & family, I was not shocked. I was only saddened.

I recognize such fear among the dear ones in my multiple tribes who supported Donald Trump for president of our country. This fear? It was the same fear * I * had should he become the president. More than fear, really – terror.

Truth: What is in me, is in you.

We’ve become so very silo-ed from each other as a country for so many reasons. I pray that goodness comes out of this event. I see many commonalities, both between the passionate screamers, and the quiet ones who have given up, in despair and hopelessness. Grace to us all, and strength.