With Thanksgiving around the corner, some may feel the oncoming dread of having to defend their political beliefs to certain family members at the dinner table.

Thanks to Jaden Smith, the actor has come up with several strategies in order to help deescalate a situation while encouraging a healthy and productive conversation.

He also noted that, due to the upcoming elections, discussions might be a little more strained than usual.  However, the artist maintained that people need to interact with one another.

“It’s obviously very important for everyone to talk to each other about what’s going on, because you’re getting a lot of situations where people feel uncomfortable or they don’t want to talk about everything happening in the world,” explained to Billboard on Tuesday. “But we do need to talk about it, and we need to be open and honest about what’s happening.”

Jaden says the best way to have a productive conversation is to listen with the intent to learn from what the other person has to say.  

“I feel like it’s important to listen to people talk,” the Neo Yokio star stressed, saying that’s a way to learn something new. “I feel like a lot of times people don’t want to engage when they don’t know what to say or when they think they’re gonna sound stupid or when they don’t know about the topic.”

The star has more advice to share in an Online Experience with Airbnb this Thursday, where he will sit down with the CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff.

The experience, which benefits Vote.org, will teach 10 viewers how to discuss politics civilly without stoking tension or division. 

A discussion will also be broadcast live on Airbnb’s official YouTube at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday.

By Megan Stone
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