The term “safe space” has started to sound like just another buzz word. How do we actually create safe spaces?
Pam: That’s a tough question. The first word I think of is empathy. You have to have a space where there’s a lot of empathy so people can actually put themselves in other people’s shoes and they’re receptive to other people’s experiences. One thing that we try to do… well I guess maybe here also [at the Color Coded meetup] but at Vox Media is get vulnerable.
We share stories about our lives just to have that human connection. Because that’s really important. And I think with human connection that you can get to empathy. That’s one way to do that.
It’s hard… If you’ve never been in a position where you had to think about those things you may feel attacked. It’s like “Whoa, I didn’t do it. I didn’t do anything.” That’s when you start shutting down other people’s stories and the opportunity for empathy and human connection.
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Pam Assogba is a Systems Engineer at Vox and Founder of Color Coded.