Why I Am Launching a New Nationwide Campaign
I am writing a deeply personal note to you this Sunday. I hope that you will take a few minutes to read it, and to write to me. I hope you will join me. It’s that important. This week, I launched a new nationwide campaign, “Enough. Time to Build.”
There’s a dangerous vacuum in our society being filled by the most divisive voices. So many good and decent people, and so many admirable organizations and groups, have concluded that the only sane option is to move to the edges of the public square. It’s safer to do their work there; it’s often easier to meet certain metrics and raise funds.
Many community leaders and active citizens tell me that they are exhausted, worn out, and frustrated by the enveloping noise and mounting challenges in our society, and the difficulties in addressing them. Of course they are. You may be, too. There are days when I am.
As Covid eased, many of us thought the worst was over. Finally, a much-needed respite. And yet, we soon realized that our work was just beginning. Disparities and inequities have only grown, not diminished. Hate and bigotry and fear have deepened, not lessened. A lack of trust turned into pervasive mistrust. Hope is in short supply.
I am undertaking this national campaign to show that we need not give in to negativity or despair. There is an alternative, realistic, and hopeful path forward. It starts in our local communities. It’s there that we can see and hear one another again. Where we can uphold dignity for all. Where we can grow our belief that we can get things done together.
This campaign is to remind us of what is possible and what we are capable of. We must reclaim the public square from those trading in division and fear, and seize our roles as builders, doers, creators, and partners in strengthening our communities and this nation.
The good news – the very good news indeed – is that such building is already taking place. But it is often invisible to those of us deep in the work and to most people in our communities. We are so busy, so engaged, so damn tired, that we often don’t see or recognize what we are creating with others.
Our task is to engage more and more Americans to join together and build – brick by brick, neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community. Then, we must spread our building and our growing belief in one another all across this country. Let’s be clear: to succeed, we must start small to go big. That’s how so much change has taken root, grown, and spread in our country.
This campaign is more than a speaking tour. We’ll share stories of hope and people’s voices from the campaign trail, opportunities to join new virtual spaces for connection, and practical ways for you and others to build together. Make sure you’re signed up for our campaign newsletter.
One last point. I am embarking on this campaign at the very moment most people tell me it is the worst time to do so: amid contentious presidential, congressional midterm, state, and local elections. But now is exactly the right time. For it is now when we can show the stakes at hand and make clear a distinctly civic message that calls people to build up our nation, rather than tear it down.
Join me in this campaign. Sign up. Bring me to your community. We can make a difference together. We can put our communities and our lives on a new trajectory of hope. One step at a time. One brick at a time. One relationship at a time.