‘NICEST PLACE IN AMERICA’ HITS A NERVE
The entries for our ‘Reader’s Digest’ contest focused on respect, not political divisions
With every new firestorm — football players kneeling during the national anthem, neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Va. — our society seems to take one more step toward a breakdown. We in the media certainly deserve some of the blame. In a democracy where free expression is the rule — and where the Internet, talk radio and cable news provide enormous megaphones — news outlets’ focus on the most extreme voices clearly add fuel to already fiery situations.
In a recent poll, 75% called incivility a national crisis, and 59% said they have quit paying attention to national politics because of that. They see no middle ground left, no safe place for what was once informed, friendly conversation. Our distrust of each other seems beyond repair.
But there is a firm middle ground, and tens of millions of Americans are standing on it. They choose civility. And they work together across supposed dividing lines. Most people never hear about these places. But they need to, now more than ever.
GALLATIN IS NO. 1
Unless you live around Nashville, for example, you’ve likely never heard of Gallatin, Tenn. Gallatin seems like an unlikely beacon of unity. It was one of the last communities in the state to integrate schools. Almost 70% of voters in Sumner County, which contains Gallatin, went for Donald Trump.
Last year, Gallatin became home to an all-too-familiar flashpoint when a white police officer shot and killed an African-American resident. Gallatin worked hard to understand what happened: police, government officials, the clergy and community leaders spent many hours discussing the circumstances. Their dialogues — the kind of tough conversations people have begun to dread having — worked wonders. While communities in similar situations erupted in protests and even riots, Gallatin residents responded with a prayer vigil, held in the City Hall parking lot.
Reader’s Digest learned about this when we launched our first “Nicest Place in America” contest last spring. Gallatin, our winner, was one of hundreds of communities eager to share their stories of places and people who instinctively put their communities ahead of themselves.
Among our finalists were places such as Hayesville, N.C., which turned gratitude into a mission after federal Hotshots helped save their town from a withering wildfire. Pflugerville High School, in Texas, fought back against one of the nation’s worst bugaboos, teenage cyber bullying. In Wisconsin, an online bulletin board created for buying and selling gently used goods has evolved into a no-judgment zone offering emotional and financial support to its virtual community of young mothers. In Providence, R.I., residents gather weekly to shine flashlights up to the windows of a local hospital, their way of signaling support for children undergoing cancer treatment.
‘COMMUNITY OVER CHAOS’
None of the “Nicest Place” entries mentioned political parties. Their community ideology — respect over anger, unity over division — echoes George W. Bush’s eloquent words at his first inauguration: “Civility is not a tactic or sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.”
Our goal with launching this contest was to help change the dialogue. We know that the media must do a better job representing all America, including Middle America — not the geographic middle, but the ideological one.
“Nobody talks to the people in the middle,” says T.J. Rooney, former Pennsylvania Democratic Party chairman. “But there are more people in the middle than there are in the extremes. Somebody’s going to figure out this mousetrap, and that’s going to change politics in America.”
Our more than 25 million readers have trained Reader’s Digest to reflect these voices. Will more outlets follow suit?
In September, The Huffington Post, in partnership with the National Institute for Civil Discourse, embarked on a “Listen to America” tour with a similar mission: “seeking out people who feel like they’re not being heard and giving them a voice.” It’s a start.
A simple development in Gallatin symbolizes what communities can teach the nation: Police chief Don Bandy, who is white, was recently asked to preach an hour at one of the African-American churches. How does that happen? Because Bandy, a Gallatin native, has made it his job — his mission — not just to connect with his neighbors but also to become one with them.
“When you make yourself friendly, you have a better chance of making a friend,” Bandy says. “You have to go across the aisle and say I want you to be part of us, and I want to be a part of what you’re doing.”
That’s still America in a nutshell.