The Work:
Transforming ourselves into A "For All" America
March on Washington, 1963.
Liberty
Justice
Dignity
Vitality
Equality
For All.
"It’s not about breaking the nation down into factions – black or white, red or blue, God or gays. It’s not about setting some of us against the rest of us. It’s about realizing that if we don’t become a society that works for all of us, we’ll soon be one that works for none of us. All or none. That’s the real choice."
RD Moore
RD Moore
The Three Essentials of "For All" Societies
an evolution of consciousness
We believe that this one idea - whether an entity or individual stands for just some of us or all of us - is the litmus test for a nation that can endure. We can judge every organization, institution and individual by whether it works for all of us or just some facet of us. This is how we determine whether politicians, whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, Independents or other, should be elected or not. It’s what we expect from representatives from the remotest districts in the remotest states. They’re still required to defend the Constitution of the United States and to do what’s best for all the people of the United States – not just those from their district. It’s the embodiment of a post-sectarian, post-partisan, post-racial society.
A democratization of power
We start at the base of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs – recognizing everyone's access to the means to survive as a fundamental human right. But it doesn't stop there. Universalizing access applies to every facet of society, from equal protection under the law to making serving in public office attainable for everyone. This radical evolution of thought – that societies could be ruled not by rulers but by the members of that society – each, endowed with equal power – was what made democracy so revolutionary. In that kind of society, everyone has a seat at the table, every person wielding power is directly accountable to the people, and we, the people have the power to hold them accountable. It's a land where everyone has an equal say, equal freedoms, and equal treatment. Democracy is so much more than the vote, but you can’t have democracy without it.
A reification of the Beloved Community
The Beloved Community permeates enduring societies. It is manifest in everything from the culture, and whether everyone's included, to the economy, and whether everyone has what they need. It's evident in everything from the traits we embody to the humanity we hold. Like with Civil Rights matron Amelia Boynton and segregationist Sheriff Jim Clark, it's our day-to-day choices that shape the arcs of our lives. If the things we've been taught aren't making us kinder, more compassionate, more conscious, courageous and original people, if our treatment of others doesn't honor their dignity and strengthen our unity, and if the line in the grand human story we're using our lives to write doesn't make us better, we each get to choose differently. As long as we're alive, we can choose.
Initiatives
Kneeling outside City Hall in protest of segregation. Birmingham, Alabama, 1963.
InAlienable - Civic Engagement
SeaChange - Beloved Community
SUGRR ("Sugar") - Socioeconomic Underground Railroad
"O, let America be America again, the land that never has been yet, and yet must be – The land where every man is free.
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek – and finding only the same old stupid plan, of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
The land that's mine – the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME – who made America, whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, must bring back our mighty dream again.
O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, and yet I swear this oath – America will be!"
Langston Hughes
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek – and finding only the same old stupid plan, of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
The land that's mine – the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME – who made America, whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, must bring back our mighty dream again.
O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, and yet I swear this oath – America will be!"
Langston Hughes