Since it seems highly likely that a non-negligible percentage of you are heading into a hella awkward long weekend with family, I thought this thread from author Bailey Poland might prove helpful: A thread for white people considering how to talk to their relatives
This lil bit, I believe, is an especially solid tactic:
“Let’s talk about why you feel that way. I have a story to share on X subject myself”
— Bailey (@the_author_) November 13, 2016
The key takeaway, in my humble:
Use LOGIC to come to your conclusions, but appeal to others’ ETHICS and EMOTIONS to persuade them. Speak honestly and authentically about your own experience.
Here’s an example of how I might apply this in conversation:
“I totally hear that you feel like the country has made some big, jarring shifts in the last eight years, and you feel left out in the cold. But here’s the thing: I’ve been surprised by the number of Jews I know who’ve taken steps since the election to be sure that they and their children can leave the country in a hurry. But not super surprised, because my wife and I did so, too. And that didn’t take eight years; it took two weeks.”
(For the curious, here’s something I wrote about being a Jew in 21st C America one year before all this crazy “white nationalist” election crap kicked off. Spoiler alert: Shit hasn’t gotten better in 28 months.)