The Bounties of America’s Promise

For many years, I only visited the Los Angeles Convention Center in a car loaded with children. As the mother of four boys, the L.A. auto show and the Wonderful World of Dinosaurs were fixtures in my calendar, as were basketball games (let’s go Lakers!) and ice skating extravaganzas. But in 2018, I stood alone on the floor of the same grand hall where I had previously attended Star Wars conventions, raised my right hand, and swore allegiance to the constitution as I became a citizen of the United States.

I bring that experience, and the knowledge of how lucky I am to share in the bounties of America’s promise, to the New America board of directors and to my work as the head of Zócalo Public Square, a unit of Arizona State University, where we measure our success by those we include, not by who we exclude. Our mission at Zócalo is to connect people to ideas that help explain why the world is the way it is, and to connect people to each other to help us build community and find common ground. At Zócalo, we dive headfirst into essential questions and difficult topics—through live public events and our online magazine—to forge these connections.

Excuses abound for the inability of ordinary citizens to solve our nation’s problems: no single person can change things; my vote doesn’t count; politics is broken. I disagree. Right now, we need connection beyond partisanship and ideology more than ever before. Conversations about systemic racism should shake us. Videos showing law enforcement brutality should bring us to tears. Mobs defacing Capitol Hill should bring us to our knees in prayer for our democracy.

This is why the work of New America is of vital importance to the future of our country. The board’s role is to shape and find funding for New America’s scholarship, policymaking, and direction. My sons are young men now — heading into middle school and college — and I care deeply about the world they are inheriting. New America's work is essential to that future. Now when I raise my hand, it is to promise collaboration and to build bridges. Now when I raise my voice, it is to acknowledge the land beneath our feet and tell the stories that have not been heard. Now, as a mother, a citizen, and as a proud New America board member, I seek to help others realize the promises embedded in our country’s highest ideals.

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