Baratunde Thurston on the Potential of Our Civic Power
What does ‘doing our part’ look like today? How can we each be evolved citizens and come together to push our country forward? These questions intrigue Baratunde Thurston. The author, comedian, and Emmy-nominated host is fascinated by how we can use our civic potential to form our shared future. “The key is reminding ourselves we can do more than be born in a certain place, cast a vote, and follow the news,” he says. “We have the power to shape our world.”
What makes Thurston’s civic drive compelling is that he’s a realist about it. Citizenship is a heavy topic given these unsettled times. The word may even trigger us to think: Do my actions even make a difference? Thurston—whose resume includes advising the Obama White House, producing for The Daily Show, and writing the New York Times best-seller How to Be Black—says yes, and he puts a fun spin on it. In his new podcast, How to Citizen, he opens up conversations around how we can all be unifiers, and move our humanity forward. It isn’t about politics, he says. It’s about investing in ourselves and our relationships.
“We’ve absorbed so much negativity in our media, so much undermining of democracy in our politics, that many of us want to scream,” says Thurston. “This is for the screamers, to remind us that there’s more to the story and more to our power than that.”
1. For people looking for an entry point, what are your suggestions for becoming a more engaged citizen today?
During our first podcast season, we have come up with over 40 things people can do to find and use their power as citizens. I didn’t realize that until this interview! Not all actions need to be things folks do in public or with others. There’s a set of internal actions that are about getting in touch with ourselves, our histories, our needs. With that said, here are my top six suggestions:
- Answer this question for yourself: What does it mean for my community to thrive?
- Get more educated on the history of your nation, your community, and your family. Don’t shy away from the embarrassing or ugly parts. Instead of shame, embrace the full story, and integrate the lessons, good and bad, so you’ve got a sound foundation upon which to build.
- Identify any young people in your life who you could support and then ask them what they are working on and how you can help.
- Look at the budget for your city, town, or county. What are the top three items? What are your bottom three? Does this ranking reflect your values or what you think your community needs to thrive?
- Start or join a club. Any club, preferably with some members you don’t know. This will help you practice power through relationships.
- Make a list of the ways you’ve helped others since March 2020. Don’t overlook your contributions just because they seemed easy or obvious. Look at the list and recognize that you’re already citizening.
2. In your podcast, you use the word “citizen” as a verb. What does it mean “to citizen”?
The concept for what we think it means “to citizen” involves four parts.
- First, to citizen is to show up and participate. This is an active role in society, not merely a feature of birth.
- Second, to citizen is to invest in relationships with others. We do not citizen alone. We are interdependent and need others for our own survival and thriving.
- Third, to citizen is to understand your power and the various ways you have to use it. That could involve spending money, voting, rallying, sharing ideas, and more.
- Fourth, to citizen is to do all these things for the benefit of the many and not just the few.
These are a starting set of principles, and we add to them and see beautiful examples of them as we learn from the audience and the guests. The key is reminding ourselves we can do more than be born in a certain place, cast a vote, and follow the news. We have the power to shape our world.
3. How can we help each other be better citizens?
We can check in with each other about our needs. We can ask for help when we need it and offer it even before someone asks. We can be patient with each other. We can forgive our mistakes without pretending they didn’t happen. We can try to understand each other’s motivations even when we disagree with each other’s actions. We can show up sometimes without expecting that we have to show up all the time. We can recognize, as our first ever guest Valarie Kaur says, “that a stranger is just a part of me I do not yet know.”
4. Are there things that get in the way of our ability to citizen that we should try to avoid?
Oh yes! Don’t watch cable news right before bed. That’s a guaranteed way to cramp your citizening style. It’s horrible stuff and generally leads to nightmares about the real world, which is a waste of dreaming.
Besides bedtime cable news (again do NOT do that), we hinder our ability to citizen when we accept the narrative that we are just individuals out to compete against other individuals for finite resources. This is a small and narrow story that limits our ability to co-create a society that works for everyone.
5. What would you say to someone who may be feeling civic despair or that their citizening may not be enough to make a difference in today’s world?
Citizening IS the difference. All that we are experiencing was made by people, people who showed up and wielded power to get what they want. Our system is predicated on “people power.” That’s literally what democracy means. So, it’s up to us, by definition, to claim our power and use it in ways that work for us.
I feel the despair too. I’m not some disconnected cheerleader just screaming “Yay citizens! You can do it!” I’m tired of the negativity in the news. I’m tired of people in positions of government power using those positions to undermine citizen power. I’m tired of systemic racism and slow progress meeting the climate crisis. I’m tired of COVID. I’m tired of washing dishes!
But the answer to this fatigue and despair is to remember that it’s always been people who make a difference. It’s people who came up with a story of white supremacy that still holds us all hostage today. It’s also people who came up with a story of equal protection under the law. It’s just people at the end of the day. It’s just us. And the despair so many of us understandably experience is not permanent. It is never permanent. Because we are creative beings. And we always have the potential to create a new narrative and a new reality.
6. Throughout your career you have opened discussions around critical elements of society and democracy, homing in on hard topics like race, identity, and poverty. But you always infuse your work with a sense of optimism and humanity. What’s your secret? What feeds your hope?
History feeds my hope because there have been better people than us, working harder than we can imagine, with fewer resources than we’ve ever had, who have committed to the pursuit of justice and the project of self-government. People have bled, died, sang, written, danced, marched, voted, cooked, and loved so hard on behalf of all of us. I honor that history in believing that we who have the privilege to live now have the opportunity and obligation to contribute what we can to this multi-generational journey of liberty and justice for all.
The other thing that feeds my hope is the simple recognition that all we are experiencing is simply a story. It’s all made up. There’s no law of physics that declares The United States of America. We create that. We accept that. We can change that. We are by nature creators. We invent games, rules, and stories to make sense of our world. It’s time to shed the story we’ve inherited. It’s time to create one of our own more suited to our needs. It’s time to grow into a narrative big enough, free enough, and just enough so that we can all thrive inside of it. The only limitation is our imagination. The only limitation is us. Let’s be limitless.
To learn more about Baratunde Thurston, visit www.baratunde.com.
This interview was featured in the November 8, 2020 edition of The Sunday Paper. The Sunday Paper publishes News and Views that Rise Above the Noise and Inspires Hearts and Minds. To get The Sunday Paper delivered to your inbox each Sunday morning for free, click here to subscribe.
