‘Wichita has a chance to model for the rest of the country how we can be’

Dave Isay wants to save American democracy, and he’d like Wichita to help.

New York-based Isay is a longtime radio documentarian and founder of StoryCorps, a nonprofit that records vignettes of everyday Americans that he describes as a way “of collecting the wisdom of humanity.” Usually that’s through family members of different generations interviewing each other, which Isay called a chance “for people to be listened to in a serious way.”

His new One Small Step is a project of StoryCorps that’s similar in concept with a different goal: to help America past dehumanization across political parties “that has accelerated insanely” since the 2016 election.

It was prior to that election when an increasingly dismayed Isay was watching something on TV — he doesn’t remember exactly what — and realized something needed to change. He texted StoryCorps CEO Robin Sparkman.

“I said, ‘Something’s really wrong. We need to do something around this culture of contempt.’ And she wrote back and said, ‘All right, figure it out.’ ”

One Small Step is the result. Unlike StoryCorps, which brings together people who know each other to share stories, One Small Step brings together strangers on opposite sides of the political spectrum and records the conversation. The point is to search for common ground — not in politics but in humanity.

The project is launching in Wichita. In the coming days, One Small Step will announce two other medium-size launch cities and a smaller one.

“We’re really psyched about Wichita,” Isay said.

He said years of research have gone into this project and in selecting the launch cities. Part of the Wichita attraction is KMUW, 89.1-FM. Isay said he and his team are “incredibly impressed” with the public radio station and are partnering with it on One Small Step.

He said Wichita is impressive as well, particularly in how it has weathered challenges in the aviation industry.

“We believe that the people have the courage to listen to each other. It’s a resilient town.”

In addition to conducting polling and having lots of conversations, he admitted that “sometimes you just have to put a pin in the map.”

“This whole thing is a guess. It’s a massive kind of experiment in human connection.”

Isay said he believes Wichitans and most people around the rest of the country are ready for it.

“There’s an exhausted majority . . . who believe that . . . what’s been happening is extremely dangerous and want to see this country thrive and survive,” he said. “Wichita has a chance to model for the rest of the country how we can be.”

The power of a MAGA hat

One Small Step is based on contact theory, a hypothesis that says if people at odds meet under a specific set of conditions, they have the chance “to see each other as human,” Isay said.

“The conflict can melt away.”

An example Isay used in a presentation to Wichita community leaders on Friday was a StoryCorps session that shows what a One Small Step session can be.

In it, Amina Amdeen explains how she was protesting President Trump’s 2016 election at a Texas event when she saw some people harassing Trump supporter Joseph Weidknecht. When someone snatched his Make America Great Again hat, she said, “Something kind of snapped inside me.”

Amdeen is Muslim, wears a hijab and has had people try to snatch it off of her head. She immediately defended Weidknecht and demanded that his hat be returned.

“I don’t think we could be any further apart as people,” Weidknecht said in the recording, “and yet it was just kinda like this common, ‘That’s not OK,’ moment.”

One Small Step has done some recordings in Wichita in advance of the project starting this week.

Wichitans Cindy Entriken and Pat Randleas were a couple of enthusiastic test cases.

“I thought it was a terrific idea,” Entriken said. “The only way to get rid of the rancor in politics now is by talking to people with whom you disagree and finding a way to talk to them that is kind and courteous and respectful. . . . I am beyond distraught at the climate, the name calling, the vicious personal attacks just because someone has a different point of view.”

By meeting others, she said, “We’ll see how we have more in common than we do in difference.”

Randleas, too, said that “people should take more time and listen and try to understand each other because we all are Americans, and we should all want what is best for our country.”

Entriken said it’s going to take a lot more than one conversation, though. She said she was disheartened to learn that the premise of One Small Step is based on a single session. She and Randleas plan to get together again on their own.

“One of the things we’re figuring out is next steps,” Isay said.

He said he’s working with other organizations on that and figuring out how to follow up with people who have been part of the sessions. He said there could be opportunities to become volunteers or even facilitators of other sessions.

“We’re in start-up mode,” Isay said. “We’re building the plane in mid air.”

He’s thrilled by Entriken’s reaction.

“That’s a perfect outcome that she wants to do more.”

One Small Step for Wichita

For now, One Small Step sessions will be recorded virtually. Anyone interested can sign up through takeonesmallstep.org/Wichita, and a facilitator will help conduct the sessions. Eventually, the hope is to have the sessions be in person as well.

“We will do as many interviews as people who want to participate,” Isay said.

If that means everyone in the greater Wichita area, “Nothing would make us happier.”

StoryCorps is “the largest collection of human voices ever gathered” at 650,000 people, he said.

Eventually, One Small Step will move beyond its launch cities to other markets in a planned three-year run. If there’s demand for it to continue in Wichita beyond its up-to-a-year run, Isay said it will.

Anyone anywhere will be able to listen to the sessions almost immediately on the StoryCorps website, where edited pieces will appear. Participants in the 40-to-50-minute sessions will have the choice whether to make them public or not.

There will be some radio play as well along with social media distribution that will include graphics.

StoryCorps started animating stories a decade ago in an attempt to reach younger people who may be more visually oriented.

Isay said Americans now fear their neighbors more than they fear outsiders, and they can’t be bullied or insulted into changing their minds. He said there has to be another approach or “the bottom line is that it’s not going to end well.”

“It’s hard to imagine that a democracy can survive in a swamp of mutual contempt.”

Though his goals are lofty, Isay said he knows One Small Step is just that — one step toward solving this problem plaguing the country.

“It’s a complete moon shot,” he said. “There’s a multibillion (dollar) contempt industrial complex that we’re up against.”

Isay said even though his project is “just one small piece of the puzzle,” for those willing to be part of the sessions, they can be an important piece of that puzzle.

“This takes courage, but our country is worth it.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 4:47 AM.