Description
Brit Barron knows that the people who hurt us with bigotry and ignorance are often the very people we love: friends, parents, grandparents, religious leaders. And we want to see them grow, not unpersoned by an online mob. But how do we strive for justice without giving up on these relationships or causing new harm? According to Barron, the only way forward is to create a gracious and difficult space for people to grow: forming relationships where we can practice difficult truth-telling, boundary setting, forgiveness, and sharing stories of own failings. This way forward begins by examining ourselves. In Do You Still Talk to Grandma?, Barron draws readers into this tension between relationship and painful accountability, sharing experiences from her own life, like her parents’ divorce and a church community that sided with the forces that dehumanize BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks. Barron illuminates the challenges and hope for these relationships, showing that the best research points towards humility, self-awareness, and an openness to learning and to remembering that others can learn too. Barron envisions a redemptive way of being that allows progressives to love people who say or believe problematic things without sacrificing themselves, their values, or their beliefs. Provocative, charming, and vulnerable, Do You Still Talk to Grandma? is an essential read for anyone struggling to live compassionately without giving up on conviction.