Oprah Talks To The Women Of America

Or ten of them, anyway, from both sides of the political divide. Join them as they sit down to hash out our nation’s future.

Last November, Donald Trump was elected our 45th president, the leader of our nation—but you could say he became the leader of two nations. These United States are about as disunited as can be, split in half by two sets of very different, deeply held beliefs. In fact, in our 241-year history, we’ve rarely been so polarized. (The Civil War does come to mind....) It’s not just that we don’t see eye to eye on the issues, or that we differ along geographic, ethnic, or gender lines. It’s that our differences—and our disdain—seem to prevent us from even engaging with anyone who disagrees with us. Yet if we have any hope of healing our divisions, this is exactly what needs to change. That’s why I recently found myself at a diner in Maspeth, New York, ready to spend a Sunday morning talking about the state of our country with ten women I’d never met. They came from all walks of life. Their opinions ranged from hyperliberal to ultraconservative. Some of those opinions were shouted. Some were expressed through tears, and still others through song. (I’m not joking: At the end of our conversation, one of the women in attendance, Allison, who had played Diana Ross on Broadway, started singing “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”—and the rest of us wound up holding hands and singing along. It was that kind of day.) And what these women discovered after two hours of candid, compassionate discussion was what Maya Angelou knew all along: We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.