Expanding Who We Mean By "We"
On June 14th, Flag Day, which also happened to be Trump’s eightieth birthday, the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA) hosted an event at New York’s historic Town Hall: Rise Up! Sing Out! A Concert for the First Amendment. I think everyone in that theatre would agree that it was a smashing success.
And it wasn’t just the people in the theatre. The event was livestreamed. Justin Krebs, a terrific organizer, went to Christian churches, Jewish congregations, bookstores, comedy clubs, local theaters, libraries, community organizations, the American Library Association, the No Kings coalition, and Indivisible groups, and they organized viewing parties in 1,500 locations in every state, Hawaii, even Paris, from beer halls to church halls.
That night, we estimate 30,000 people were watching at these gatherings and many millions since then on YouTube. One viewer wrote us saying, “Everyone who came had a great time and we definitely achieved ‘collective effervescence!’”
The show was produced by Rob Nanus of Rigor Ruckus and Bruce Cohn, directed by Schele Williams and scripted by Bess Kalb. We focused on the five freedoms contained in the First Amendment: Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition, which is an old-fashioned way of saying ‘protest.’
Our speakers ranged from Lily Gladstone, Julia Roberts, Joy Reid, Rev Adriene Thorne, Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Hussein Rashid and Tessa Thompson to Ms. Rachel, Robert De Niro, Ayo Edebiri, Wilson Cruz, and Pepermint.
