Immigration OST

[Douglas D. Germann, Sr.]

To our good friends--

On April 19, José and I announced the Immigration Conversations to the
Hispanic Leadership Coalition for May 5 and 6, about 2 1/2 weeks off.
Originally we were going to get equal numbers of people pro and con
immigration reform. We discovered at that meeting that it was difficult to
define the "against" group of people to be invited. Moreover, we saw many
nuances within the Hispanic community, so we decided to broaden the topic
and call it "Immigration Reform: Issues and Opportunities In Our Back
Yard."

On April 24 and 25, we met with three other people who would make up our
inviters group. We chose the local public library for the meetings and
developed a list of people to invite.

Eventually, 15 people came for the conversations which ran from 3:30 to
5:30 pm on Friday the 5th, and 9:15 am to 4:30 pm on the 6th. There were
never more than 8 people in sessions at one time.

The group posted the 14 topics listed at the end.

What did we learn?

A. It is possible to bring a great group of people together in a short
time, in this case 2 1/2 weeks. Instant Open Space!

B. One major learning is that I will encourage groups to split into two or
more whenever they are tempted to meet as one group. For one thing, in
Friday's meeting, having two groups enabled one group to contain our space
invader from the Ku Klux Klan and neutralize his poison, while in
Saturday's meeting where they decided to stay in one group, that setting
gave a platform to, and allowed a less hostile but still monopolizing,
sense-dulling, time-consuming space invader to take over.

More importantly, two or more groups would allow for more subjects to be
covered, and, given our desire to hear people out and therefore our
tendency to have only one person speaking at a time, more groups would
allow more people to be heard.

In short, with two groups, two subjects for sure get covered. With one, we
have a tendency to get stuck in the first topic.

On top of this, multiple groups allows for cross pollination between and
among groups, so there is the possibility of more ideas, and more valuable
ones, to be engendered.

Two or more people talking at once, more people heard, cross pollination,
and limiting space invaders: four reasons to share with people tempted to
stay in one group.

Sure it is logical to stay in one group: we want to miss nothing. The truth
of human nature is that we miss at least half when we do this.

C. Another learning is this: It takes I think more than a group of 4 or 5
inviters to make instant Open Space happen in larger scales. One person was
active, inviting groups, inviting individuals. Another was less active, but
still invited many. A third was in the midst of personal difficulties and
probably invited only a few. And the last, I, invited several people, but
did not have many contacts with people who were really invested in this
issue. It is possible that these conversations produced our inviters for
larger conversations to follow.

D. It is also interesting to carry the idea of smaller groups to its
natural limit: groups of two. The previous week a facilitator helped about
45 people rewrite the constitution and bylaws at our church in one day. His
favorite tool was to give us about 2 minutes at a time for conversations in
dyads about the decisions to be made. Certainly not in-depth, but it did
unearth most of the logical, surface issues and some of the spiritual ones
underneath. Many subjects were covered in a short time, efficiency was a
key word, and most people felt heard. Maximum hearing opportunity, at least
on the surface. If the time had been expanded and collateral matters given
opportunity, it may have gotten to depth.

If immigration reform is an issue in your town, consider doing an OST as a
community service. Our invitation can be found at my blog,
http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com , just below the calendar on the right
side.

                              :-Doug. Germann
                              Seeking people making community change.


The posted topics:

1. Since the 1st settlers here crossed the Bering Strait, who is not a or a
descendant of an immigrant? Therefore is it fair to discriminate against
others who have similar circumstances? Dave

2. How South Bend area is effected by immigration issues today? Jimmy

3. How are legal residents (citizens or not) affected by negative attitudes
and actions against "illegals?"  Reynaldo

4. Question: Fairness and Practical? Suzanne

5. Is Economic impact of immigrants overall harmful or beneficial to USA?
In what Ways? Reynaldo

6. How does immigration affect South Bend's economic development? Hugo

7. How does immigration affect the housing market & housing quality?
Reynaldo

8. The rationality & reality of HR 4439 E its impact on the local community
via social political areas, pro & con. Larry

9. Opportunity to comply? (Immigration Quotes: Reasonable?) Fred

10. Taxes & Resources: Who pays and who receives? Jos

11. In what ways does U.S. policy drive illegal immigration? Reynaldo

12. What ideas in education (elementary and secondary) do people have for
enlightening children of this issue? The longer we don't talk about this
issue at all stages of life, the more it remains the "unspeakable" topic.
How does not talking about it help anything? Priscilla

13. Are poor immigrants a net drain on the welfare system (public &
private)? Reynaldo

14. Are U.S. Government political & economic actions towards Latin American
Countries pushing immigration to the U.S.? Hugo

===You are whole

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