‘This isn’t about any one administration’: protests kick off in DC to reimagine the next 250 years in the US | Washington DC

M.More than a thousand people gathered on a block away from the White House on Saturday to unveil their vision for the future of the United States, organizers said, and thousands more attended other events around the country.

in that Next250 The entire US rally, held a week before the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, will be kicked off by organizers. Declaration of InterdependenceAn art installation that embodies the collective values ​​they believe should define America’s story for the next 250 years. The pledge, a version of the country’s founding text of the declaration of independence, aims to build a country where everyone can earn a living wage, have access to green spaces and feel safe in their communities, activists said.

“This event is not about any administration or president,” said Linda Sarsour, an organizer with Next250, one of the grassroots groups organizing the event. “This is about taking our place in the historical archive. So people look at the 250th commemoration and say, ‘Where were the movements?’ when they ask. “They will see this commitment from all of us.”

To craft the Declaration of Interdependence, activists held listening sessions in 36 states, Puerto Rico and even El Salvador, where they gathered ideas from people recently deported from the United States.

The payoff, Sarsour said, is that most Americans, from workers in Iowa to undocumented residents in Detroit to Black Americans in Mississippi, agree on a set of basic universal values: economic security, health care, safe schools and a livable planet. “Neighbor to neighbor, we’re actually not as polarized as people would like us to believe,” he said.

At McPherson Square on Saturday, attendees took part in a variety of activities aimed at encouraging community. At one end of the square, D.C. nonprofit Distant Relatives distributed food and clothing and offered medical services to hundreds of people experiencing homelessness. Others recently signed their names to the massive Declaration of Interdependence to express their support for a more culturally inclusive country that guarantees rights such as health and safety.

On the large outdoor stage, rally attendees watched the Native inaugural ceremony featuring drumming and dancing by members of the Piscataway Nation, listened to keynote speeches from activists, sang along to a performance by the Morgan State University choir, and applauded spoken-word artists and musicians.

Participants traveled from all over the country. “We want to show our kids that this is what community is like,” said Saileni Urena, executive director of Guns Down, Life Up, a Bronx-based community organization that aims to end gun violence. Urena traveled with a group of 20 people to attend the event. “This is a very sensitive time for our at-risk children, and we are here to join with others in the nation’s capital to find solutions to end violence everywhere.”

Organizers used the event as an opportunity to meet with people from various movements. “We represent this country and we are what makes America great,” said Suehaila Amen, a longtime organizer from Dearborn, Mich. “I support my brothers and sisters to ensure that our rights are protected and protected.”

Communities are marginalized and isolated as people live in fear of immigration enforcement, Amen said, adding: “The United States is also bringing devastation and destruction to the homelands of our ancestors, from Lebanon to Palestine to Iran. We must stand together against this, and unless we are united, we cannot build.”

In addition to D.C.’s flagship event, more than 100 Next250 events will take place across the country, from rallies to trainings, according to organizers. In Los Angeles, the event, titled Learn the History They Want You to Forget, will include a walking tour that will recognize places important to the Black, Latino, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities.

The event comes as the Trump administration kicks off its Fourth of July celebration, Freedom 250, on Thursday with a Trump campaign-style rally and a 16-day “American state fair.” Next250 organizers view Donald Trump’s celebration as a partisan spectacle rather than a genuine reckoning with the nation’s history, coming at a time when they say the most basic constitutional protections are under attack.

Hunter Dunn, a spokesman for the grassroots organization 50501, a co-organizer of Saturday’s event, said Freedom 250 amounts to “an effort to remove Black and Indigenous history from the national story,” a charge that comes down especially hard a week after Juneteenth and against the backdrop of the recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Next250’s counter-message, according to Sarsour, is that the last 250 years belong to ordinary people as much as to any one president, and are worth defending precisely because the country’s promises of free speech and the right to organize have often gone unfulfilled.

Sarsour said, “We are the first generation in American history to have to tell the younger generation that they have less rights than us,” and pointed out that reproductive and voting rights have been lost, especially in recent years.

At an event in DC on Saturday, Virginia-based Vietnam veteran Doyle Cook said the country’s 250th anniversary is an opportunity to reckon with American imperialism.

Cook, who served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1969, said, “I was not happy with the job I did after I got out. I was used as a tool, just like today’s army is used in Iran.” “We are making the same mistakes and our leaders have learned nothing from history. It is a very happy thing that we survived the first 250 years, but we must continue to raise our voices for justice, equality and democracy.”

Others emphasized the importance of nonviolent protests. “I believe grassroots mobilization is an important way to bring change. We can’t always win and succeed quickly, but we can’t put all our energy into elections and lobbying,” said Michael Beer, a D.C.-area resident. “We must also educate people, motivate people, disrupt order, and draw attention to important issues. We must also talk about how 250 and nonviolent resistance movements here in this country are changing the world.”

International attendees watched the rally with cautious optimism. “We have always looked to the United States for what we want to be as a society,” said Bianna Peracchi, a Brazilian citizen living in Spain. “But our authoritarian leaders look to Trump for inspiration. So let’s hope that the upcoming elections in Latin America and the United States show us that democracy still matters.”

Saturday is an entry into a crowded summer calendar for activists: Seven Days in DCa week in which activists lobbied Congress, registered voters, and held public demonstrations; World Cup efforts Our Copaaimed at protecting fans from ICE raids; and a boycott call was made against United Airlines Fascism Doesn’t FlyIt will launch in early July in recognition of the airline’s support of the US president’s Freedom 250 initiative. in mid July, Having Good Trouble The protest honoring the late congressman John Lewis will draw attention to voting rights. Dunn said organizers expect the next nationwide No Kings rally to take place in late summer or early fall.