IN OUR CHURCH, we have space utilized by local artists. I partnered with one of them, Ben Volta, to imagine a visual art project to tie the themes between Juneteenth and Fourth of July, because not everybody celebrates the Fourth of July. I wasn’t even thinking about this year, the 250th, when we embarked on that project. I felt very strongly that we needed to celebrate Juneteenth. Otherwise, we’re not creating a trajectory that asserts Fannie Lou Hamer’s [statement], “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” The revolution is incremental and we’re doing that work.

Part of the National Park Service’s funds are being cut and also some exhibits are getting taken down. I see that as a diminishment of Black history, Indigenous history, and our collective history.

“Dazzle them with the light gradually.”

At our Friday night family meetings, we watched “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” read by descendants of Frederick Douglass. We had a lot of different ideas for the panels. But we were determined that what we really want to do is invite people to slow down and humanize this whole endeavor of doing justice work. I don’t know if that’s working, but at least that’s our hope. A poem that guided my thought process is Emily Dickinson’s “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” Dazzle them with the light gradually. When we’re so adjusted to injustice, truth can appear very violent. In the process, working with different generations and artists, we were practicing democracy while doing this. It was really a fun experiment: an invitation to practice community.