Center for Popular Democracy Launches Campaign To Protect 14th Amendment
“Politics decide who gets what and when they get it.” Co-directors of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) declared to the audience at Roulette Intermedium in Downtown Brooklyn on April 27. The CPD, a national network of grassroots organizations pushing for progressive change in the United States, was launching its campaign to protect the 14th Amendment with a “We the Poets” poetry night hosted by writer and educator Dr. Mahogany L. Browne. The event was organized in conjunction with 48 organizations ranging from Alaska to Atlanta with the aim of bringing together diverse voices to “deepen people’s analysis and understanding of what hurdles stand between them and a fully thriving life” as Analilia Mejia, co-director of CPD, explained.
Part of the “deep political education” the CPD aims to provide is the history of the 14th Amendment and the indispensable role Black Americans had in ensuring its passage. Co-director DaMareo Cooper explained: “Enslaved people had a general strike. They stole their own labor and joined the Union and won the Civil War.”
In 1896, at the end of Reconstruction, Congress ratified the 14th Amendment, which has since become a monumental pillar of American democracy. It establishes that all people born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens who are provided equal protection under the law, banned those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office, barred former Confederate states from compensating the war debts of former slave owners, and gave Congress the power to enforce these provisions. It has been the foundation for historical Supreme Court rulings, including Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Roe v. Wade (1973). The 14th Amendment is now under threat as Donald Trump launches systematic attacks on civil liberties.
The Center decided to begin its campaign with a cultural event, citing the power storytelling has to engage people emotionally and intellectually. Art’s capacity to facilitate meaningful civic discussion is at the core of CPD’s mission. “We’re trying to give people the goggles to see the big picture,” Cooper said.
The audience at Roulette Intermedium on April 27.
Poetry’s traditions, from rap to James Baldwin, lingered in the air on Sunday as Dr. Browne explained that poets are “responding to the times” and using their art to “stand by the fire but not preach to the choir.” She emphasizes that CPD’s network of grassroot organizations has provided it with the opportunity to incorporate voices often missing in social-justice missions in New York City. The poets on stage explored these issues through intimate portrayals of their lives as Black and Latino youth struggling to reconcile the legal protections they are guaranteed while acknowledging the disparate reality for them and their families.
Raquel Polanco, in a love letter to her parents, finished her performance saying: “I pledge allegiance to my parents, the only nation I have ever known,” while Damiano “The Miserable Genius” Malvasio questioned “who’s illegal” while listing off the offenses of the U.S. government against marginalized groups. Each poem of the night sought to bring life to what is at stake as the far-right mutilates our civil and human rights.
The Center for Popular Democracy will continue its battle with a campaign to pressure representatives to take greater efforts in fighting the conservative movement.
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