The overwhelming majority of people in the U.S. believe that other people cannot be trusted.
Pumping gas at an Arizona station just off I-40, a man wearing a dark, wrinkled uniform approached me. He carried a boot that had a few dollar bills sticking out and he asked, “Would you like to donate to the firefighters’ fund?” I replied, “Do you have some kind of identification?”
The man gave me a puzzled look, “no, not really ID, but there’s my fire truck parked right over there.” Sure enough, there it was. Actually, a whole line of fire trucks. I looked around, there were firefighters scurrying everywhere, asking everyone for donations.
According to the lastest (2016) General Social Survey,* two-thirds of Americans say “you can’t be too careful” in dealing with other people. When the GSS was first conducted in 1972, 50% of adult Americans said that people can be trusted. Forty-five+ years later, not only do people in the U.S. distrust the government and institutions like Wall Street, banks and churches, we the people don’t trust one another anymore either.
Trust No One
The stickiest message I recall from law school came from Professor Berger, intro to property law: “Trust No One. Sue Everyone.” Perhaps he was joking but that message of distrust stuck with me longer than anything about deeds. Now, trust no one is being pumped into the American water supply. I’ve drunk that water too, just ask the firefighter in Arizona.
How did we get here? Distrust can be a matter of survival in America. If you’re a person of color in the U.S., you have good reason not to trust others. “Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.”** Beyond police shootings, this year we’ve had to build new vernacular: Driving While Black is expanded to Walking While Black, Selling Water While Black, Mowing a Lawn While Black, Swimming While Black, and more.
Trump’s unleashing of the Pandora’s Box of white supremacy gives neighbors, passers-by and park-goers…let’s face it, any white person, permission to call 911 if they see African Americans doing anything at all. And, if you’re Latinx, you’re likely existing in a state of terror given the Trump administration’s current human rights abuses against immigrants, the taking–caging, drugging, neglecting, abusing and traumatizing–of children, and the suggestions that the rule of law can be suspended.
Its clear, the U.S. president is purposefully fueling distrust with easily refutable lies every single day. Trump’s use of propaganda (and tweets) to stir distrust and hatred is part of desensitizing us, part of the test to see how much state-sponsored cruelty Americans will accept. This is straight from the authoritarian’s playbook. Historically, we see such language, such propaganda, used as a precursor to ethnic cleansing and genocide .
What will the GSS results look like for 2018? Its a safe bet that our trust in one another has decreased further. Distrust does more than compel us to hunker down with our tribe: people who look like, sound like and earn like us. Our U.S. trust deficit has tangible, harmful consequences in our every day lives. Widespread distrust curtails our ability to solve problems and there’s little doubt we have pressing ones from poverty to housing, healthcare to education, infrastructure to climate change. Without some measure of trust, engaging in productive dialogue is difficult, shared action and accountability is darned near impossible.
How might the U.S. begin reversing this distrust trend?
Mandela’s Approach to Trust-Building
The remarkable Nelson Mandela approached trust-building in South Africa in ways the U.S. could emulate:
Establish a Healing Structure. Mandela’s use of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission exposed governmental and individual wrongdoing that started the national healing process. Many other nations have used restorative justice truth commissions successfully, including our neighbor to the north, Canada (with indigenous communities). Imagine, if rather than unproductive U.S. Congressional hearings or the expenditure of resources on individual prosecutions took place, we employed a Truth and Reconciliation process?
Lead Forgiveness as Individuals. Mandela made crystal clear that as an individual, forgiveness guided him. He spoke about forgiveness, he acted in forgiving ways. Mandela not only modeled forgiveness, as a leader he went further by articulating his expectation that others forgive too. Ghana’s President John Dramami Mahama reflected upon this in the New York Times:
We all waited for an indescribable rage, a call for retribution that any reasonable mind would have understood…
Yet, the man insisted on forgiveness. ‘To go to prison because of your convictions, he said, ‘and be prepared to suffer for what you believe in, is something worthwhile. It is an achievement for a man to do his duty on earth irrespective of the consequences.'”***
Get Out & Connect. We are all familiar with Mandela’s ability to go out among the people and interact with humility, love and humor — that built trust. Perhaps I–and we–need to get out from behind our computers and TVs, look up from our smart phones, take public transportation, go to public parks and public meetings and focus on connecting in different ways with others, especially others outside our ‘tribe.’ What if each and every one of us intentionally focuses on the rebuilding of trust in America?
Assuming America survives the Trump regime, what do you think would help us start rebuilding trust within the nation? How will we begin rebuilding trust with our longtime allies? Love to learn your ideas!
Sources: *Access the Associated Press/GfK Communications General Social Survey at http://ap-gfkpoll.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/AP-GfK-October-2013-Poll-Topline-Final_TRUST.pdf .
**Mapping Police Violence at https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
***Mandela Taught A Continent to Forgive at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/opinion/mahama-mandela-taught-a-continent-to-forgive.html?_r=0 .
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