NEW YORK — Adam Luke remembers walking into the first meeting of what would become the Citizen Solutions pilot project and thinking, “Oh god, this is going to suck.”
Luke, a self-described “educated redneck,” was one of 11 Tennesseans with widely differing views on gun rights selected by the project to discuss possible recommendations to reduce gun violence. He has fond memories of his father picking him up from school when he was in first grade to go deer hunting. He has long considered himself a supporter of gun rights, saying, “Firearms have always had a positive influence on my life.”
Luke, a licensed marriage and family therapist, says he wanted to represent that point of view and meet the needs of those who want to curb gun violence.
“The reason I came to the table was because I’m so tired of the idea that we can’t do anything, that there’s no way forward… that the citizens of America are unable to communicate with each other,” Lucas said. “That’s what I wanted to be hostile to.”
That desire to work together, tackle an issue and fight polarization led the Tennessee 11, as they called themselves, to develop a series of laws that could reduce gun violence in their state. It also led the coalition of artistic, political and philanthropic leaders behind the pilot project to believe it had enough merit to expand.
That coalition — which includes entrepreneur and philanthropist Daniel Lubetzky, actor Liev Schreiber, journalist Katie Couric, Muhammad Ali Center director Lonnie Ali and others — announced Tuesday that it would launch Builders, a global nonprofit initiative aimed at reducing polarization and encouraging people to work together to find solutions they can all support.
“The problem is the way social media and cable news turn everything into ‘us versus them’ situations,” says Lubetzky, founder of Kind Snacks and recurring shark on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” “Builders will counter that by helping people strengthen their thinking, how to process information and how to actually solve problems instead of creating hostility.”
Builders have rolled out with the publication of Lubetzky’s recent TED talk on combating polarization. He said the initiative will have four key components: Builders Media to produce digital content that challenges stereotypes and divisive narratives; Builders Toolkit to help educational institutions stimulate critical thinking in their students; Builders Network to amplify the voices of those speaking out against extremism; and the Citizen Solutions project.
“Both Democrats and Republicans don’t think they have anything in common,” said Ashley Phillips, program director at Builders’ Citizens Solutions. “But in fact there is a whole set of shared values that bring these very different parties together.”
Identifying and mobilizing these shared values became central to creating Citizen Solutions, which Lubetzky had previously supported for twenty years with his nonprofit Starts With Us. The Tennessee program on gun laws was the group’s pilot project and has expanded to Wisconsin, where the group is currently working to find common ground in the abortion debate.
The idea of citizens’ assemblies dates back to ancient Athens, where men gathered to vote on proposed laws. But in recent years the practice of exploring what to do about climate change has returned in some countries.
“It always amazes me how citizens want to roll up their sleeves and do this work,” Phillips said.
Schreiber, who was recently nominated for Best Actor Tony for his work in “Doubt,” said he was eager to work with Builders in any way he could to help combat polarization.
“What I loved about ‘Doubt,’ as much as a play, was that it put forward the idea that if we can all just slow down the algorithm a little bit – the algorithm that prepares us for conflict and tribalization – and admit that we know less than we think we know and trying to educate ourselves, I think it can help,” Schreiber told The Associated Press.
That idea ties in with what his nonprofit organization BlueCheck Ukraine has been doing: informing potential donors about the work of Ukrainian nonprofits and exposing war conditions, especially for children.
“Part of the disease we are all suffering from now is caused by social media and the digital age,” says Schreiber. “It feels like we are now programmed to make hasty decisions, to take positions before we are sufficiently informed or understand the positions we are taking.”
Lonnie Ali said she and her late husband Muhammad had admired Lubetzky’s anti-polarization work for years. She said she hopes Builders can energize people looking for solutions and forming alliances.
“Extremists wake up every morning intent on advancing their cause and they are driven to divide and destroy,” she said. “We need to channel that same energy, but then unite and build.”
Given the currently polarized climate on the nation’s campuses, Lubetzky said Builders will make its Builders Toolkit available to universities so they can use the strategies to help prevent or defuse the extremist clashes.
Luke, of the Tennessee 11, says the strategies are working and is eager to see Builders expand further. “If we can just give that social push so that citizens recognize that we can talk about abortion rights, we can talk about immigration, we can talk about difficult things,” he said. “What if we come to the table and we both say, ‘The government sucks right now’.”
Agreeing on that, he says, can start the process of discovering what else they agree on.
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