A new program from the creator of the oral history project 'StoryCorps' is asking Americans with opposing political ideals to do the seemingly impossible: talk with each other. Norah O'Donnell reports.
This past Thursday marked the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, when an angry mob tried and failed to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. The insurrection's only success was to further polarize a country already divided. Tonight we'll introduce you to someone attempting to bridge that divide.
Dave Isay: The situation is so bad that, you know, if-- if the culture of contempt wins-- things are just not gonna end well for the United States. Dave Isay: It's media. It's social media. I mean, there's a multi-multi-multi-billion dollar hate industrial complex, where people-- you know, can make money by making us hate and fear each other. It's a little bit of a David and Goliath fight here.
Dave Isay: And I said,"I'm gonna try and record the whole country. Will you accept the material?" And she said those magical three letters,"Yes."The StoryCorps archive is in good company at what is the largest library in the world. Other treasures here include a rare Gutenberg Bible, as well as a draft of the Declaration of Independence handwritten by Thomas Jefferson and a preliminary draft of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Dr.
Isabel Encinias: When I was little, I remember him flying in-- in his fighter jet and us waiting for him on the tarmac and thinking, 'Oh my God, what a hero my father is.' Aidan Sykes: The thing I love about you, you never give up on me. That's one of the things I will always remember about my dad.Norah O'Donnell: Have you thought about selling Kleenexes?Dave Isay: We've always wanted to get Kleenex as a sponsor, but they've never agreed.
Around the time of the 2016 presidential election, Dave Isay says he got the idea for a new kind of StoryCorps that could perhaps help unite a country becoming increasingly divided. He decided to call it"One Small Step." Dave Isay: So every regular StoryCorps interview are people who know and love each other. And every One Small Step interview are strangers. And in the case of One Small Step, it's people who are across the political divide.
Nicole Unice:"I am a Baptist pastor and performance artist, a native Charlottesvillian, graduate of the University of Virginia, and Union Theological Seminary in New York City."Brenda Brown-Grooms: We're pastors, and we're-- we-- we're helping people to find their path and find their voice. One Small Step just crossed the not so small milestone of completing 1,000 sessions and there are over 6,000 people on the waiting list.