For the past few weeks we’ve been featuring stories of Rhode Islanders who reach across differences like race, religion and politics, in our series “Speaking Across Difference.” We also asked you to weigh in and share your own experience through an online survey. Several dozen people took the time to answer our questions. 

Rhode Island Public Radio’s Kristin Gourlay and Alexandra Braunstein sat down to talk about what you said. Here’s a transcript of their conversation.

KRISTIN: So Alex, you helped sort through some of the responses to this unscientific survey. We got nearly 50 responses. And some of you had some really interesting observations. Before we hear about that, what were some of the questions in the survey?

ALEX: Right, so we asked if you’ve ever witnessed or experienced racial injustice, we asked if you have any meaningful relationships with someone from a totally different background from yours. And we asked if you could point to a person or an organization in your community that’s working to bridge divides like race, class, and religion.

KRISTIN: Right. And we also asked people to identify their own race or ethnicity. Almost all of the respondents identified as white – just one person identified as black. We were hoping for more diversity, so we were pretty disappointed there. And we asked whether people thought racial injustice, in particular, has gotten worse, better, or stayed the same since they were a kid. Alex, what struck you about what people revealed about their own experiences?

ALEX: Well, more than half of the people who responded said they’d witnessed or experienced racial injustice. About two thirds said they had a close friend from a completely different background. And as for whether the differences that divide Americans have gotten worse, stayed the same, or better since they were kids, the responses were pretty evenly split.

It’s hard to know what to make of these numbers given that it was a small, mostly white group of people who responded. So, we called up a couple of survey respondents to ask them about their answers. I spoke with Patty McLeish. She’s white, and she says she thinks the level of injustice has improved since she was a kid in the 60s. She acknowledged that in the past, she didn’t understand black anger at racial injustice. I want to play you some tape from our conversation.

“Of course now, I do have a better understanding of why and how in fact – just from my position of privilege, there’s more to it than people being angry about a specific thing that might have set off a riot. There’s just more background that most white people don’t think about.”

Patti is a historian and she says that after watching some of the recent Black Lives Matter protests and court cases on voter ID laws, her thinking has evolved.

KRISTIN: I spoke to Rabbi Elan Babchuck from temple Emanu-El in Providence. He thinks the divides among people are only getting wider.

“I think it’s more than just perception. There is truth to a growing divide. I think we’re in a place right now where – I don’t know whether it’s the chicken/egg in terms of media – but I think I’m seeing and experiencing more vitriol, more hate. And I think it comes from a place of fear and a lack of understanding about the other.”

ALEX: We also heard from Elan Babchuck about how his neighborhood, Mt. Hope, is trying to bridge those divides. He says there are 17 organizations now working together on projects that promote community. And he told me about how he feels he plays a role in that as a spiritual leader.

“It’s just very easy as pulpit rabbi, pastor to say I have to work on building up my community. But that’s a pretty myopic view and it really limits one’s potential for growth – the community’s, leader’s, member’s potential for spiritual growth. […] And the truth is if I’m not intentional in making moments of interacting people outside my own fault lines, that’s a pretty limited world that I’m in, and that’s going to lead to a pretty limited worldview.”

KRISTIN: You know Alex, this comment makes me think of a community and police relations meeting I covered a couple of months ago. Most attendees were black, and the sense I got was that talk about reaching out and bridging the race gap is just that – talk. I went back and listened to some tape from that public forum, which was convened by the Providence police. A man named Justice Alfred from Black Lives Matter, who lives in Providence,  described feeling brutalized by police, and he urged police to make some changes.

“We hope they find it in their hearts, some degree of compassion to tone down violence because of the power they have. Who can we rely on? We have nobody but ourselves. What we have is us.”

KRISTIN: So, there’s an example of the completely different world view Rabbi Babchuck was talking about. And Alex Braunstein, in combing through the survey results for our series “Speaking Across Difference,” you did find that quite a few other people think racism and other forms of discrimination are more covert now. A woman who didn’t want to be identified by name responded to our survey with this story – can you read it, Alex?

ALEX: Sure. She writes that she was with her family driving home from a day at Goddard Park in Providence. She says they were stopped by police in East Greenwich, and then she writes: “The young white police officers were polite but claimed they stopped us because our children in the back seats weren’t wearing seat belts.”  She says the children were wearing their seat belts, and even if they weren’t there would have been no way for the officers to really see that because they were in the cab of a truck. She calls it “Another incident of driving while black.”

KRISTIN: Again, out of the 50 responses to this survey, only one person identified as black – most people identified as white. We recognize it wasn’t a scientific poll. And we wish we had more perspectives to share. Still, Alex, did anyone offer suggestions for bridging divides in Rhode Island, or talk about people or organizations they think are making a difference?

ALEX: Yes – we got some interesting responses to that question. Some people mentioned organizations like the Institute for Study & Practice of Non-Violence in Providence and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport. Others mentioned their churches or synagogues and neighborhood associations.

KRISTIN: So, Alex, this survey just scratched the surface of many complex issues. We’ve tried to highlight some of the issues here on Rhode Island Public Radio and in our continuing series “Speaking Across Difference.” You can find those stories on our web site, RIPR dot org. And please join the conversation. You can email your thoughts and comments or story ideas to news@ripr.org.