Earlier this summer, we spent time with Urban Rural Action in Kenosha, WI, as they worked with a coalition of community leaders and concerned citizens who explored ways to prevent targeted violence, and especially in this season, political violence.

It’s a conversation that is important to the area. There has been some difficult history. In nearby Oak Creek, a 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh temple left 7 dead and a community traumatized. In 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people at a Kenosha protest in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. And, this year’s political tension is high as we gear up for our presidential election.

If that were the only storyline, it would be discouraging. But that’s not the end of the story. This was a room full of concerned citizens. People who might not have all the answers, but are asking the right questions. “How do we navigate tensions together?” “How do we build connections?” “How can we bridge divides?” This is the civic process of making change and creating community.

These folks came together to help find a way forward. To share best practices. To practice having difficult conversation in civil ways. And we asked them, “What do you hope to achieve by working across differences to prevent targeted violence?”