When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.” This quote, often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, may sound harsh, but the new normal that we’re all experiencing under the current regime in Washington requires some thought about what it really means to be impartial. I don’t know how anyone can remain truly impartial in light of current events, but for those of us who facilitate and/or mediate complex and tough conversations around controversial issues, the idea of neutrality has always been a hallmark of our craft.

A consistent definition of what neutrality means for community engagement practitioners has never really been clear to me. I’ve had unexpressed opinions about everything I’ve ever worked on, but I doubt (hope) that most of the parties involved ever knew. We in the U.S. are living and working in a time and place where the values that I believe most of us doing this work hold, are being rocked; fairness, justice, truth, respect, inclusion, all being systematically disassembled. I don’t believe that we can remain impartial or neutral about losing ourselves.

Minimizing the damage being done by 47 and, eventually, fixing what’s broken will take a different and greater collective effort than I think any of us realize. It will certainly take the engagement, and a lot of conversation, among everybody affected, including the people who support those now in power who are doing the damage.