About 30 people gathered at the vegan restaurant Detroit Street Filling Station Tuesday evening to envision a better future with Paul J. Fleming, associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, through stories from his newest book, “Imagine Doing Better.” The event kicked off the restaurant’s new salon series — a space for people with similar interests to exchange thoughts, ideas and opinions — which will bring various presenters to the restaurant.
Fleming opened the talk by inviting audience members to describe their current thoughts on a better world.
“If we want to be building a better world, we need to start by imagining it,” Fleming said. “We need to think about what is in that world. What systems exist? How do we treat each other, right? What does that better world look like?”
To illustrate this, Fleming shared an anecdote from his life as a parent, recalling his son’s first trip to HomeGoods after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He’s sort of like seeing all this stuff, and he sees this very — what I would consider very small — toy aisle,” Fleming said. “But to him, ‘Oh, my God, look at all these toys,’ right?” Fleming said. “He had been limited to the toys in our house and a few different families that we were connected with during the pandemic.”
Fleming said his son had a fixation on a plastic T-Rex toy Fleming thought was mediocre.
“I wasn’t very impressed by the toy, but my son was very impressed,” Fleming said. “That HomeGoods aisle was less than 1% of the things that this kid could have spent his money on, right? The world of possibilities for his money was much wider, but he was constrained in his thinking.”
Fleming applied his experience with his son to the concept of constrained thinking and to examine how society works to solve issues. He said rethinking the factors that influence policy decisions is important in moving forward.
“If our goal as a society is safety, then what are all the things that make us feel safe?” Fleming said. “If our goal is health, what are all the things that contribute to us being healthy? This story really connects to the ways in which we all can be constrained in our thinking, to what we see in front of us, or what we have had in our own life or our own communities.”
Fleming referenced the process behind Michigan Ballot Proposal 2 of 2018, which created an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to help prevent political gerrymandering in Michigan, as an example of applying consistent effort. He said when participating in advocacy efforts, continuing advocacy over time is more important than one big moment.
“It was going to take sustained organizing and sustained effort,” Fleming said. “We need to be thinking about the marathon, not the sprint. The challenges facing us are so large (that they) can breathe a bit of hopelessness and frustration, but if we focus on what are the small steps that we can take it helps propel you along.”
The event then opened up to group discussion. Audience member Marly Durst said people need to promote sustained change by encouraging others to reject the contribution of money to harmful corporations, eventually creating a shift in attitude.
“We need to be more willing to have those conversations with people and reject it on an everyday basis, little by little,” Durst said. “They’ve got lots of money, but it takes a shift in consciousness of what’s acceptable and what’s not.”
Detroit Street owner Phyllis Englebert compared recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to historical moments of inaction, such as the World World II Japanese Internment Camps. Englebert said audience members should reflect on the complacency of people in times of injustice and consider their historical implications.
“There was no mass protest against (Japanese internment),” Englebert said. “We let that happen, and those people are still dealing with intergenerational trauma all these years later. What would I have done if I was there during that time? Well, now it’s our time, right? So what are we going to do? … Are we going to stop it?”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, engineering lecturer Laura Murphy acknowledged the interdisciplinary responsibility for advocacy. Murphy said she feels there is a connection between social justice and engineering.
“I teach equity-centered engineering for grad students,” Murphy said. “So much of the conversations we’re having are, ‘How do we incorporate the sort of socio-technical perspectives into our work?’ I feel like you can’t be an engineer and not be thinking and talking about immigration at this time.”
After the event, Fleming told The Daily in an interview he hopes the event will build community and encourage people to continue mobilization efforts despite feelings of demotivation.
“I found a lot of energy in the room and was excited to connect with different folks,” Fleming said. “My hope for this event is that people (will) better connect with their neighbors, with other folks in the community, and don’t feel a sense of hopelessness and a sense of immobilization in this current moment.”
Daily Staff Reporter Rebecca Borlace can be reached at rborlace@umich.edu.
