Published on 27th Jun, 2026
john a. powell is director of the Institute of Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley and a highly regarded thinker in the US on racism, identity, democracy and belonging. He visited Ireland in early June as a guest of Social Change Initiative and the Community Foundation Ireland
john a. powell wants to make belonging without othering a global norm by 2040 and during a visit to Belfast spoke about building a world where everyone belongs.
His trip coincided with several days of racist violence and john visited a group helping members of ethnic minority communities displaced by the rioting. He said of those who were running an emergency response: “People were tired, people were afraid, but they were also caring about each other, they were also loving, they were also shining”.
He also spoke to "inspiring" young leaders involved in peacebuilding, inclusion and diversity efforts.
john’s message about belonging - delivered during a talk at Ulster University - is that it is neither integration nor inclusion, but co-creation between those who ‘already belong’ and those who have been othered. It’s about changing the rules, not the people in the room, to create a true belonging. He calls for everyday people to recognise their collective power and to realise that when we stand up for each other, something magical can happen.
Belonging and Othering
Societies, religions and nation states have been organised around the theme of belonging and have long wrestled with determining who belongs; yet by defining who belongs, it defines who does not. When someone is deeply othered, we do not see them as a human being deserving of respect and dignity.
john’s message is to reject the idea that to create belonging you must have othering and to instead embrace the notion that everybody belongs and there is no other.
Bridging stories versus breaking stories
Stories help us to make sense of things and there are two types, bridging and breaking. A bridging story is the narrative we weave that binds people. A breaking story sows discontentment.
To counteract racism in Ireland, north and south, civic society, faith leaders and government must tell a bridging story.
john used the example of the January 2026 community response in the US state of Minnesota that followed the deployment of thousands of federal immigration officers. Two people were shot dead by immigration agents during the demonstrations.
“... other than the people who were killed, you probably don't know any of the names of the people who were out in the streets marching and fighting for their neighbours. They weren't rich. They weren't famous. They weren't movie stars. What they had was each other. And that didn't break. And each time that someone was killed, the crowds got larger, not smaller. So, each time… when they tried to intimidate people it got bigger not smaller and at the end of the day the head of ICE got fired… It wasn't just… what they did but it's also the story they told. They told a bridging story. They told a story of love. They were giving the military flowers. I don't know where they got the flowers from, but they were giving people flowers. They were going up to a soldier saying, ‘I don't blame you. Basically, I know you're here doing somebody else's bidding. You're trying to pay a mortgage.’."
This bridging story also demonstrates that power is not the reserve of the elite.
When we stand up for each other, something magical can happen
john says while it might feel that all the power rests with billionaires or governments, never doubt the strength each of us possesses and never cede that power. The magic happens when everyday people use their power for collective, rather than individual, good.
“I think when we stand up just for ourselves, however we define it, because ‘It's just my race, just my gender, just my age, just people who live in the United States’, we've fractured our power. But when I say ‘No, it's not going to happen to anybody’, I think something magical can happen.”
john a. powell speaking at Ulster University during his visit to Northern Ireland
What do you need to bridge?
Bridging is connecting with people we have decided are different from us, it’s being curious, listening to their story with the heart and not the mind and creating the environment for engagement.
For john, building bridges is “active engagement, active listening in an uncritical way. Bridging and really listening to someone does not mean we agree with them, doesn’t mean we swallow our own values but it does mean we are curious about them and we see their humanity”.
He uses the South African word ‘sawubona’, meaning ‘I see you with my heart, I see your worth and dignity’.
Using the example of Nelson Mandela’s symbolic attendance at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final wearing a South Africa jersey, john says recognising people’s sacred symbols is an important part of bridging. However, reaching out comes with risk as the person can face criticism from their community.
Listen to everyone, even those you disagree with
In the context of the June 2026 racist violence, john says we must listen to everyone’s concerns and reassure them that a shared future is being built - whether they are aggressor or victim - where one person’s gain is not offset by another’s loss.
“A lot of it is fear and the fear is based on the notion that those people - or who we imagine those people to be - are going to take something away from us and I think speaking to that, I think listening to that, is important. People’s fears, whether they are quote-unquote rational or not, they tell you something."
Wherever you see the line that says ‘us’ and ‘them’ that’s the place to work
Bridging can take place at the level of the individual or community and john noted the extent to which it is already happening in Northern Ireland.
“... wherever you see that divide, whether it’s immigrant and non-immigrant, whether it’s Catholic and Protestant, that’s the place to focus. Wherever you see that divide, wherever you see the line that says ‘us’ and ‘them’ that’s the place to work.”
Sustaining that work is the challenge, he says, but look to other countries and how they are tackling fragmentation and toxic polarisation.
john a. powell met young leaders involved in peacebuilding, inclusion and diversity efforts in Northern Ireland
Civic society need only look within for inspiration
Conflict entrepreneurs benefit from the fracturing of society and divisive voices are loud, however, they do not speak for the majority, as evidenced in Social Change Initiative’s recent report Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland Community Cohesion, Political Trust and Economic Hardship.
Asked how civic society could find inspiration to mobilise, john said oftentimes when people sit with themselves, they are the source of inspiration, as evidenced by those he met in Belfast.
"I don’t have the data here in Northern Ireland, but there are many more people who are concerned and who are willing to help than who are being destructive, but they don’t make the news.”
Even when you can’t bridge, don’t break
Bridging requires supportive structures and conditions - if a bomb is falling run for the air raid shelter, do not try to bridge.
John’s wish is that we never lose sight of each other's humanity.
“Even when you can't bridge, don't break. Don't turn the other person into the categorical other. You may have disagreements. You may not like them. You may have to even fight them, but hold on to their humanity. And part of holding on to humanity supports the notion that everybody belongs. Even the person that's throwing the Molotov cocktail, they belong. Even the Nazi, belongs. Even the racist belongs. There's no one that does not deserve and have human dignity.”
And his final words on bridging and how it negates othering and creates belonging - “The risk of not bridging is almost always greater than the risk of bridging”.
John also visited Dublin during his visit to Ireland and was hosted by Community Foundation Ireland and GORM.
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