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I’ve been writing a lot about potlucks as a metaphor for America’s diverse democracy. I love the Stone Soup fable as an inspiring tale of a mythical potluck. But real-life versions also exist in contemporary America. Here’s one that you can organize on your campus.
It’s called the People’s Supper, and it was created by Lennon Flowers and Jen Bailey, both seasoned community builders whose life stories have guided their work. Lennon lost her mom to breast cancer when she was a senior in college and, finding herself in a new city, craved a community to connect with about loss. She created a civic space called the Dinner Party that brought people of all backgrounds who had experienced loss together. Jen, an IFYC alum, was one of the only black girls in her conservative small town in western Illinois. She remembers the strength that she received from the African American matriarchs in the kitchen of her black church, and the kindness offered during times of personal trial by white neighbors with very different political views. As the founder of Faith Matters Network, she was committed to supporting the spirituality of people of color in ways that bridged all lines of difference.
Recognizing the combination of marginalization, polarization, disgust and anger that existed after the election of Donald Trump, Lennon and Jen committed to host 100 gatherings in 100 days. The purpose was to, in the words of the Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama, find a way “of navigating our differences that deepen our curiosity, deepen our friendships, deepen our capacity to disagree, deepen the argument of being alive.” And so, the People’s Supper was born.
Three years after that first event in early 2017, they are heading toward their 2,000th People’s Supper. The Obama Foundation asked them to organize one for its summit in Chicago. The mayor of Erie, Pa., named among the most racially tense cities in the nation, asked them to hold a series of suppers to bridge racial divides. The town of Creede, Colo., population 400, has experienced the ideological divide at the level of daily personal interaction in a manner that could literally tear the place apart. The residents have been organizing People’s Suppers to build their sense of community back up again.
The question of the 21st century, says Jen, drawing explicitly on the African American vernacular, is “How we be together.” Everybody needs to eat, and everybody has a story. In the right format, stories and food can bring us together. In the wrong format (think extended family Thanksgiving dinner, late November 2016) they are spaces of, to use a term from Islamic Arabic, fitna -- chaos and conflict.
The secret sauce of the People’s Supper format can be found in a poem by Micky ScottBey Jones called "An Invitation to Brave Space." Often read aloud before events, the poem calls on all of us to recognize that we each bear responsibility for creating a space where people can be their best selves. We should not expect perfection from ourselves, others or even the space where we come together. We should not claim innocence or speak only of our scars. We should recognize that truth and love are things that can be increased when we connect in the right ways. Our highest hope should be to grow together. In other words, to create a civic space where we can be a community.
Often, a People’s Supper will have facilitators who guide the gathering through a series of questions meant to fulfill the hopes articulated in the poem above. Prompts can include: Who are your people? Describe a time when you have felt excluded. Tell us about a moment when you have felt radically welcome.
Depending on who constitutes the gathering, a People’s Supper might have opening and closing rituals, perhaps even an altar where people are invited to place objects that are meaningful to them.
I think the signature genius of the People’s Supper is that virtually anyone can host one and adapt it to their particular purposes or needs. Elite companies have hosted People’s Suppers to break down the toxic internal competition endemic to such cultures. Interfaith groups have hosted them to talk through doctrinal and political divides. People who have experienced violent trauma have developed a set of specific questions to guide their own gatherings.
A campus is an ideal place for a People’s Supper. If you run one, let me know. If you organize an interfaith people’s supper, I’ll do a cartwheel and sing a song.
Whatever you organize, remember to add your own cool twist. Questlove, the drummer for the Roots, hosts what have come to be called “mix-tape potlucks.” Using his particular proclivities as a musician, he sends out a song to each of the people he’s inviting and asks them to bring a dish inspired by the tune. In an NPR interview about these gatherings, Questlove describes himself as a loner by nature (“Rapunzel with an afro” is his memorable turn of phrase) who discovered an inner potluck host that he didn’t previously known existed.
