Last week marked America’s 250th birthday. For some folks, it was a celebration. For others, it was a day weighted with grief, anger, disappointment, or deep ambivalence. Most of us are probably experiencing more than one feeling at once.
That’s because this country’s story has never been simple, or finished. It sure isn’t now.
One of the best things about AoCC is that our work begins with rejecting the idea that the future is inevitable. Our work exists because democracy isn’t something that simply happens to us. It’s something people create through millions of choices, large and small, every day.
Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, authors of Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, explain:
When you feel trapped by an oppressive inevitability, you never stop trying to escape, because every jailbreak begins with a decision to reject the inevitable. It is the courage to pick up a pen, every time, knowing you may not finish the story, but knowing full well that you will reject the ending you’ve been given, every step of the way.
And Elie Mystal, American political commentator and author, reminds us: “Nothing is written in stone. Our world is not inevitable.”
That’s why we do the work we do at Americans of Conscience.
Not because we know exactly how the story ends, and not because progress is guaranteed. But because we refuse to hand the pen to people writing an ending we cannot accept.
Every time we speak up, we’re really saying: not this America, but a better one. Every action we take is a way of saying: not this ending. Every time any of us shows up—every call made, every donation given, every vote cast, every hour spent putting in the work—we insist and ensure that another future remains possible.
We know we won’t be the ones who finish America’s story, but we have the privilege, and the responsibility, to help write the next chapter.
Thank you for picking up the pen, the phone, your voice, again and again.
To rejecting inevitability,
Marissa
Marissa Bracke is an Americans of Conscience Production Team Member and Can-Do-Ologist. She supports the publication of the Checklist, and enjoys exploring the intersections of democracy, ethics, and everyday choices that shape our shared future.