Bert Belanger and Janice Martin

Participants share what motivated them to join the One Small Step interview. JM was concerned by the Trump presidency. BB is interested in understanding the current culture of political discourse.

BB shares one of his first memories of politics from his childhood. His mother was politically active but he was not conscious of politics for most of his childhood.

JM talks about her experience growing up in Oklahoma City during the movement to racially integrate public schools. She notes that her parents had a formative impact on her perspective on race.

JM shares how her mother died by suicide during her teenage years and that her mother’s worldview motivated her decision to conclude her life on earth.

BB shares about his experience with Black people in his childhood. He grew up with Black families in his community and also knew Black college students who worked in his father's restaurant.

BB shares that he has spent his life intentionally building relationships with and learning from Black people in his community. He wants to understand the best way to support the community in order to promote harmony. Much of his perspective is rooted in his experience as a member of a multi-denominational and multiracial church community.

JM asks BB about his Christian denomination and shares about her experience offering help to Black people as a White woman and how the power imbalance can cause more conflict. She shares a story about trying to help the victims of a fire in her community and the challenge of trying to help without understanding the needs of others.

JM clarifies her use of the term "Karen" and what that term means to her.

BB shares about his discomfort with concepts such as white guilt and white privilege, and how he doesn't identify strongly with those ideas. He also shares about how his assumptions about how to help people of color have been challenged and changed over time.

BB shares about his relationship with his wife, who is adopted, and his career as a lawyer, and how those things shape his perspective on abortion and women's bodily autonomy. He emphasizes that it is a complicated topic, but affirms that he thinks that terminating a pregnancy for convenience is wrong.

JM asks BB if he knows anyone who has had an abortion. He speaks about the people in his life who have connections with abortion.

JM speaks about her gratitude for BB sharing his experiences and how they inform his perspective on his abortion. She shares about her experiences with adoption and abortion.

BB responds to JM experience and contemplates how that ties back to his values and views.

JM asks BB if he has any words that he lives by. He shares 4 phrases that he believes even if he doesn't stick to them perfectly.

JM shares some of the words that she likes to live by.

JM and BB share closing words with one another.