Last summer as I watched protesters in the streets of Philadelphia, I was reminded that the American Revolution is an ongoing enterprise, that we are still doing the work of expanding our democracy, and that who gets to do that work expands with every generation.
I wanted to respond to our national reckoning in a way that felt meaningful to me as a Black woman, an American and a recent Philadelphian — identities in which I take a lot of pride and that also each come with responsibility.
Living here, I walk on the same cobblestones as Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and see the inequality that existed before the pandemic in the poorest big city in America. Philadelphia is a city that holds both truths, that our democracy and our disparities happened by design.
On the 245th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I am proud and humbled to announce the launch of #AMorePerfectUnion, a yearlong project with @PhillyInquirer examining the ongoing impact of some of our country’s institutions born in Philadelphia.
You can read the Preamble to the project (yay, symbolism!) in my opening essay here: inquirer.com/opinion/more-p…
My hope is that this will again be the place where we frame a new way forward and make our founding ideals real for all of us. Part of that work is expanding our cherished origin stories that obscure the full truth of our beginnings. Let us move forward together now. 🇺🇸✊🏾
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