Thursday, September 17, 6:30 – 8:30pm PDT
Location: DVC 2026, 2450 E Charleston Rd, Mountain View, CA 94043
Constitution Day Community Conversation is organized by Blue Turn Indivisible and co-sponsored by Indivisible Palo Alto Plus—IPV’s amazing No Kings collaborators. It’s the brainchild of Blue Turn founder Mariya Genzel, who spoke at our February meeting about how she became an activist. Mariya was born in the USSR, so she knows better than most what it’s like to live without the rights and freedoms we enjoy. Mariya shared a bit about what inspired her to create this event and what’s in store for us on September 17:
Constitution Day has roots in another anxious period in American history. In 1952, at the height of the Cold War, Congress chose September 17, the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, as Citizenship Day. If Soviet communism defined the ideological adversary abroad, Americans were asking what exactly defined _us_. The answer reaffirmed our existence as a creedal nation: a people connected not by a common ancestry, but by shared ideals embodied in our Constitution.
And who gets to own what these ideals mean? Nine enrobed individuals? No, we all do. So this Constitution Day, nearly 30 very different people will gather in one room in Mountain View: among them, a veteran, a rabbi, a retired judge, a teamster, a filmmaker, a scientist, a disability-rights advocate, an artist, and a 10-year-old. Each will claim a small piece of the Constitution and have their say in what it means.The goal of this event is to reach beyond our bubbles. Organizers hope we will invite friends, colleagues, neighbors and family members who aren’t as engaged as we are, but who will join us in celebrating our constitution during America’s 250th anniversary year. David Waksberg of IPA+ put it this way:
We need to reach many Americans outside our own echo chambers. Still, so often, we find ourselves talking only to ourselves. This non-partisan (unless one considers “Rule of Law” partisan) event reaches beyond ourselves and our groups, to people many of us rarely interact with. The incredibly diverse list of speakers accomplishes this in every way. This sort of substantive and meaningful outreach is important and indeed, necessary if we are to win. The design of this program – as a Community Conversation, promises to attract a diverse array of local residents, and educate us all about the Constitution and why and how it must be protected.