As one of the most acrimonious political seasons in U.S. history draws to an electoral deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 5, there’s no guarantee the division will automatically heal.
That will require work, specifically in listening to each other and offering respect. It was the message of speakers during a Unity Night presented at W-H’s Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 24. The Whitman Freedom Team, whose mission is to explore ways of offering dialogue and support to the entire community, with a goal of promoting love, inclusion and trust, produced the program. The group aims to “move beyond tolerance, to embracing, celebrating and sharing our community’s diversity.”
“The key to unity is better understanding,” said psychologist Dr. Joshua Twomey, PhD, a member of the Freedom Team’s Board of Directors, and an assistant professor of family medicine at UMass Medical School.
“I fundamentally believe that an essential element in pursuit of unity is the practice of listening.”
Bridgewater State University’s Assistant Vice President for Student Success, Diversity and Inclusion Yolany Gonell continued that thought, saying, “unity requires us to work across difference.”
The evening’s discussion was aimed at fostering a return to civility in discussing “tough and difficult conversations, particularly in the political climate we find ourselves in today,” founder Tom Evans, a retired teacher, said in opening the event.
The evening’s theme was civility and respect, featuring speakers who devote their lives to promoting those goals.
After opening with a series of quotes on the meaning of communication, Evans introduced each speaker before they offered their message for the program.
“All of our stories are subject to bias,” Twomey said. “They are influenced by our fears and our disappointments and our needs. … Bias is not inherently good and is not inherently bad, either.”
Gonell began by asking who in the audience were athletes in school or parents of an athlete now, or if any are active-duty service members or veterans. She was greeted by a smattering of applause to each question.
Both these categories that people can fall into, forge community – and help build unity.
“Unity requires common ground,” she said. “We ask questions. Do students and employees feel a sense of belonging here? If they don’t, what do we do as a community to break down barriers?”
Conversations, celebrations and shared learning communities are created.
“The more welcoming we are, the more economic progress we can make,” she said.
“Listening is where change takes place,” Twomey said, noting that telling someone how they should feel – in daily life as well as counseling – simply doesn’t work,
“Genuine listening allows for people to examine biases of their own stories and allows them to be open to a multitude of other perspectives,” he said, and agreement is not required.
“The only thing that is required is to see them as a person,” he said. “Listening establishes trust.”
The evening’s first speaker had been Dr. Carl Kowalski, an educator, former member and chair of the School Committee and chair of the Whitman Select Board.
“Historians tell us that past is prologue, that one way of getting to tell what is, might be to review what has been,” Kowalski began and leaned on poets to paint a picture of humanity’s continual struggle against darkness.
“The only way to shed light is to join with, and be true to one another,” he said. “How fog-covered is our world? How can we find happiness in a world filled with hate, fake news and division?”
In seeking the answer, Kowalski turned to Aristotle and said, “If it’s in our nature to think, we can only be happy if we think logically. If it’s in our nature to feel, we can only be happy if we feel deeply. … The first step toward happiness is to know oneself.”
State Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, touched on the theme of happiness, too, as he recalled a fundraising play he and Kowalski had performed in “many years ago,” to benefit the Brockton Library in an effort to make it more accessible to handicapped patrons such as their mutual friend the late state Sen. Thomas Kennedy.
“We used to do these plays called ‘Murder in the Library,’ and Dr. Kowalski and myself were the two suspects and it was a computer virus that caused a disease,” Brady recalled. “We sang a song that was to the tune of ‘Making Whoopie,’ and the theme was computer viruses.”
Brady said that experience, along with another in a community watch program, demonstrated the value of community.
“Nobody does this job alone,” he said. “Unlike what we hear in the media, and the division in this country is unfortunate, we have a good team in the commonwealth. We have Republicans and Democrats who work very well together.”
That cooperation will be needed for some of the rumors being spread in efforts to widen divisions.
“This past weekend, there were some rumors floating around [in Whitman], mostly on social media,” he said, noting he had seen screenshots that showed symbols appearing to be swastikas. “I’ve been in conversation with the chief of police, Tim Hanlon [who is a member of the Freedom Team], and I’m taking his advice and saying that the police will handle it and are well aware of it.”
Hanlon told Evans that he would say, “there are so many rumors out there, [and] people are getting all upset.” One of those rumors was that Gov. Maura Healey was going to use the Whitman Armory to house immigrant families.
“It’s not true,” Evans said. “But these are the kind of things that are out there and are making it difficult for people to stay calm and it causes a lot of dysfunction.”
State Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida and the Rev. Michele Matott, rector of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Whitman, had also been scheduled to speak, but Sullivan-Almeida, had a scheduling conflict and Rev. Matott was ill with COVID, so neither were able to attend.
Dr. Michael Kryzanek and the Rev. Adrian Millik of the Holy Ghost Church filled in for them.
Kryzanek, filling in for Matott, is an author and retired professor of political science, and has served on the Board of Directors of Father Bill’s Mainspring as well as that of the Freedom Team.
“All people in Whitman should be involved in the common good,” he said. “And unity brings stability and strength and opportunity.”
He listed the ways the founding documents of the United States pertains to unity and diversity.
“Diversity is a goal worth pursuing,” Kryzanek said, referring to Unity Day as the beginning of a movement to make the values of our Founders come to life. “Diversity will only strengthen what we have here in Whitman.”
The Rev. Millik offered a blessing to the group following his remarks, as a person whose parents grew up in Poland before the Soviet-backed regime was removed.
“Totalitarians pit people against each other,” he said.
Former School Committee member Christopher Scriven, an unscheduled speaker, was also invited to speak, arguing that those who don’t have advanced degrees have something to contribute to community-building, too.
“I recognize what we’re dealing with in this situation, and it breaks my heart that our community is going through this,” he said. “I want to make a point about how important it is for all of us to be involved. … have a voice that’s no more, no less important, and that’s something we should all exercise.”
He noted that many in the meeting have been leading in Whitman and serving the community for a long time and more people should join in that work.