Juneteenth Feature: Angela Glover Blackwell's Reimagining Democracy For A Good Life - Episode 1: Los Angeles

I'm Angela Glover Blackwell, and I've been advocating for racial justice and equity all my adult life.

But for most of those years, I never really spent much time thinking about the fragility of our democracy.

I took democracy as a given in the US.

It was a bedrock of the nation.

[gentle music] Of course, I understood that our democracy was deeply flawed and that equal rights and opportunities were a myth, a tantalizing set of promises that has never been fulfilled.

That's why I spent more than half a century doing the work I do.

I grew up in a segregated St. Louis in the 1950s and '60s and attended all-Black schools with highly educated teachers who, because of racism, were essentially barred from other professional work.

I remember one evening, my parents and their friends took us kids to the city's famous outdoor municipal opera.

The adults clustered the children in the inside seats while arranging themselves along the perimeter.

At the time, I thought it was to watch us for misbehavior.

Later, I realized they were actually protecting us from the ugly, hostile looks and racial slurs that Black people usually encountered when we ventured out of Black spaces.

So yes, I knew from an early age that ours is a flawed democracy with a brutal history of Native American genocide, stolen land and enslavement, racial violence and discrimination.

But I, and I believe most Americans, indeed most of the world, assumed that it was a strong democracy with a moral arc that could be bent toward justice.

Now we know just how vulnerable our democracy is.

Multiple capital injuries.

[crowd cheering] Pull them this way.

On January 6th, 2021, thousands of rioters stormed the US Capitol.

Florida becomes the latest state to ban schools from teaching about systemic racism.

23 saw the highest number of bills introduced in state legislatures attacking LGBTQ rights.

Legal challenges regarding voting rights in multiple states from Georgia to Arkansas could alter the nation's political landscape ahead of the 2024 elections.

But I'm not here to talk about the threats to democracy You can get plenty of that on cable news.

I want to explore how to realize the potential of our democracy to achieve a good life for all, a potential that I believe was articulated at the very start of this nation.

But before we dive in, I want to make it clear that democracy isn't just about voting, although I implore everyone to vote.

Please vote.

Democracy is actually an ongoing process, a way to get to where we want to go, a good life for everyone.

I'm Angela Glover Blackwell, and I've been advocating for racial justice and equity all my adult life.

But for most of those years, I never really spent much time thinking about the fragility of our democracy.

I took democracy as a given in the US.

It was a bedrock of the nation.

[gentle music] Of course, I understood that our democracy was deeply flawed and that equal rights and opportunities were a myth, a tantalizing set of promises that has never been fulfilled.

That's why I spent more than half a century doing the work I do.

I grew up in a segregated St. Louis in the 1950s and '60s and attended all-Black schools with highly educated teachers who, because of racism, were essentially barred from other professional work.

I remember one evening, my parents and their friends took us kids to the city's famous outdoor municipal opera.

The adults clustered the children in the inside seats while arranging themselves along the perimeter.

At the time, I thought it was to watch us for misbehavior.

Later, I realized they were actually protecting us from the ugly, hostile looks and racial slurs that Black people usually encountered when we ventured out of Black spaces.

So yes, I knew from an early age that ours is a flawed democracy with a brutal history of Native American genocide, stolen land and enslavement, racial violence and discrimination.

But I, and I believe most Americans, indeed most of the world, assumed that it was a strong democracy with a moral arc that could be bent toward justice.

Now we know just how vulnerable our democracy is.

Multiple capital injuries.

[crowd cheering] Pull them this way.

On January 6th, 2021, thousands of rioters stormed the US Capitol.

Florida becomes the latest state to ban schools from teaching about systemic racism.

23 saw the highest number of bills introduced in state legislatures attacking LGBTQ rights.

Legal challenges regarding voting rights in multiple states from Georgia to Arkansas could alter the nation's political landscape ahead of the 2024 elections.

But I'm not here to talk about the threats to democracy You can get plenty of that on cable news.

I want to explore how to realize the potential of our democracy to achieve a good life for all, a potential that I believe was articulated at the very start of this nation.

But before we dive in, I want to make it clear that democracy isn't just about voting, although I implore everyone to vote.

Please vote.

Democracy is actually an ongoing process, a way to get to where we want to go, a good life for everyone.