YOUnify’s Director of Engagement, Pedro Silva, visits Politics Done Right to discuss the toxic polarization in America and how we can build systems to bridge the divide.
Pedro Silva discusses toxic polarization.
I posited to Pedro Silva that the genesis of our polarization is the plutocracy via several avenues to disempower the masses. His answer was prescient.
“We kind of come from the position that the individual who is kind of building the community actually has more power than they think that they have to affect positive change through organizing,” Pedro Silva said. “Organizing and collective action and the challenges of helping people realize that they have the power that they don’t think they have. Usually, people in a lot of systems, they look to someone, and they say, okay, that is the person that has the power. And so I, being a powerless person, have to align myself with power to keep myself safe or to provide for my family or whatever the thing is that most human beings have in common. And we try to show people you actually have more power than you think you do.”
Pedro then explains what can be attained from that place of power that already inhabits our being.
“And from a place of power, you can actually build relationships with people,” Silva continued. “The reason why I think a lot of people don’t build relationships across perceived differences is because of fear and fear of not having power, fear of being left behind, fear of not being able to take care of their family. And so they look to some leader that tells them, I see your problems, I see your challenges, and I can save you. And then they say, okay, I’m going to trust that you can do that because I feel powerless to do it myself. But if you actually can connect with other people who have similar values, they want to provide for their children. They want to be able to pay their bills. They want to be able to imagine having a future, and you put them with other people and go, Oh, we have similar values. Hold on. We are both being the strings are being pulled by people who seem to have power. We believe them to have power, but there’s more power in our inter-relating and co-creating than there is in this system that is struggling to try to maintain a semblance of power.”
The entire interview is thoughtful. Get a cup of coffee. You will be inspired to engage.
