On Saturday, March 18, from 10 a.m to noon, Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to decreasing the political divide between citizens, will be holding its first event “Speaking with the ‘enemy’ – Healthy conversations across the political divide” in the UC Multi-purpose room.
Palin Berkana-Wycoff, the senior associate director for Student Activities at Western Carolina University, organized this event to allow attendees to understand what Braver Angels is and ease them into the process of how future events will be held. Attendees will be paired off with someone in a different political party than them and the pairs will get to know each other, have moderated conversations about the topics of their choices and discuss their hopes for the country. The conversations will be moderated by Wycoff and other members of the leadership team.
Wycoff felt there was a need for an organization like this to help support “red students on a blue campus” and “blue students in a red county.” He hopes an organization like this can help people adapt their political views in a nuanced way while still keeping their core beliefs. However, Wycoff believes one of the most important parts of bringing this organization to Jackson County is “that participants can discover- maybe rediscover- that you can disagree, and still respect the person you disagree with.”
Braver Angels is a national organization created in 2016 by American citizens who were concerned with the increasing political divide of citizens. The organization’s focus is to unite liberals and conservatives without changing anyone’s political beliefs or creating compromises.
The organization is focused on its internal balanced leadership. Each branch from the national organization is known as an alliance and every alliance must have a conservative and liberal member for each position on the board; this allows people with different beliefs to learn how to work together.
Wycoff found out about Braver Angels two years ago on the news. Seeing how increasingly political the world had become, he worried about how this would affect WCU’s population and proposed beginning a Jackson County Alliance, hoping to ease any political tensions that currently existed as well as those that were starting.
Students who want to participate are not told what to believe nor how to express those beliefs but are asked to adhere to the process and respect the different things they may hear. Tough conversations are expected without anyone judging or condemning those who differ from them.
Wycoff hopes that in the upcoming event along with further events, participants will discover that beneath disagreements, they will find there are shared values. He hopes students can take away the hope that individuals can push back on the growing divide and do their part to conquer it and build up the community.
With the event coming March 18, Wycoff hopes to see one more official event this semester and many more in the following upcoming year. For students looking to get further involved, on Braver Angels’ website click “Get Involved” and for $12 fee a year, anyone can become a member of the national organization and get involved with other in-person and online events. For any questions about upcoming events in Jackson County, contact Wycoff at pberkana@email.wcu.edu.
