[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
we’ve all had one of those days that
doesn’t go as planned we’re hoping this
is not that day but let me share with
you a day I’m in this large cavernous
discount shopping store doing clothes
shopping which I don’t really like to do
and I’m beginning to work my way down
this aisle it’s very tightly packed with
clothes almost claustrophobic but it
also seems to extend infinitely into the
distance now despite the fact that the
store is almost completely empty I
noticed there’s a woman in my aisle
typical right and to my horror I realize
even worse we’re gonna have to do the
shimmy you know that really awkward you
go left I go right you slide by one
another you know as an American with the
preferred social distance of at least a
hundred feet this is very uncomfortable
for me to consider so we’ve been sort of
exchanging glances out of the corner of
our eyes and this is sad to admit but I
don’t particularly like this woman white
middle-aged woman she seems really
oblivious to our predicament and she’s
not very responsive in a to me uh and
and I realized it’s even worse than that
she seems really entitled to be in my
aisle but I I’m looking over her
shoulder and I see that perfect outfit
that I just know I want so I know I’m
not the only crazy person that talks to
themself I can I can tell you all talk
to yourself too so I started having this
internal conversation why don’t you like
that woman you know just get over it
look her in the eye and deal with the
situation well you know I didn’t look at
her directly cuz I didn’t like what I
saw out of the corner of my eye I didn’t
want to be with her I didn’t want to
talk with her I didn’t even have any
social interaction there wasn’t any part
of me to thought maybe this is an
opportunity to get to know someone
exchange
– smile you know I think there’s
something there and basic realization we
don’t like to look at things that make
us uncomfortable that get too close that
require intimacy or opening up we want
people and things and ideas to confirm
what we already believe we want life to
turn out as planned
right at my day job at James Madison’s
Montpelier I’ve been wondering a lot
about what makes us comfortable and not
comfortable and what we see and don’t
see as Americans you know I for one I
want everyone to see the story of the US
Constitution in all its radical beauty
I’m really fond of this narrative of a
young scrappy country throwing off the
rule of a king crowd sourcing a
blueprint for a new kind of government
in creating and then adopting a
constitution that many people historians
consider a hinge point in human history
and that still resonates and inspires
people all over the world today who want
government by the people but I think you
know that’s only a little part of the
story we’re only seeing remembering part
of the narrative there’s a whole other
half of our story where that same
Constitution codified slavery without
ever using the word our origin story our
founding is based on freedom and slavery
it’s in our democratic DNA and this is
something I think many African American
families know just from their own family
history but a lot of us flat out deny
forget or don’t see now I can tell it
got really quiet and everyone’s worried
oh no she’s going to get political I
swear I’m not there there’s a lot of
that going around right now instead I
want to get personal growing up I was
pretty oblivious to issues about race
when you here where I lived you’re gonna
go I was
must’ve been in a military family but
that’s not true my father is a water
resource planner he’s here today and
he’d just like to move so I’m gonna give
you my list Utah Wyoming before high
school Utah Wyoming California New
Mexico Wisconsin three places Idaho
Maine Nebraska and finally Virginia
growing up this way
I saw a geographically diverse United
States it was fantastic but but let’s
face it most of the communities I’m
growing up in everyone looks just like
me right
and I had some beautiful beautiful
places growing up but it left me with a
few holes I’m gonna share just one story
growing up in rural Maine we had a field
trip once a year to a theater in Bangor
the big city of Bangor and we saw five
years in a row the same film five years
in a row you’re getting the rhythm here
right and that film was gone with the
wind which I frankly absorbed as a
documentary film about the south in case
I’m just letting the rest of you know
it’s not yeah since then I’ve really had
by the privilege of having most of my
work life here in Virginia went to the
University of Virginia not once but
twice wah-hoo-wah
and I’ve had some really interesting
jobs and opportunities but I moved back
from Montana to Virginia five years ago
because I was so interested in and as
equally baffled by our American story
yeah I told people I want to be part of
telling a more complete American story
but you know honestly when I I didn’t
really know what I was talking about
since then I’ve been hearing a lot and
I’m sure you have too what is our
American story
who owns the narrative there was this
really passionate fabulous talk by the
mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu
recently and in this talk he was talking
about hey you know what are we doing
with the Civil War monuments and about
their decision to take some of them down
he says in this talk and this is what’s
so true for me
I must have walked by those monuments a
million times and never given them a
second thought and then he went on to
share hey I’m not judging anybody I
don’t judge people we all take our own
journey on race and and I’ve been taking
my own journey too at Montpelier we
recently opened a new exhibition about
slavery and the Constitution and I have
the good fortune to be able to learn
more about race and slavery from people
who were descended from folks who’d been
enslaved on James Madison’s plantation I
had a chance to learn from Rebecca
Gilmore Coleman now Rebecca is the
great-granddaughter of George Gilmore
and after emancipation he built the
little white cabin across the entrance
from Appeal your’e Rebecca is with us
here today so thank you for Rekha for
being here Rebecca very poignant Lee
describes herself as being three
generations removed from being enslaved
at Montpelier and Rebecca is also the
woman who had the courage 20 years ago
to drive down that long winding road and
say to the people who were working at
Montpelier then hey there’s some very
important and interesting stories to
tell here tell our story I’ve also had a
chance to get to know and Margaret
Jordan and she is the third
great-granddaughter of Paul Jennings now
Margaret who lives in Texas and serves
on our board is rightfully proud of her
ancestor Paul Jennings he led an epic
life that can really inspire all of us
he’s born into slavery at Montpelier
he’s credited as a young man for helping
to save the portrait of George
Washington when the White House is
burned by the British in 1812 he gains
his own freedom completely by the dint
of his own effort then he goes on and he
uses his freedom to save others and the
Underground Railroad and he writes the
first account of life in the White House
it’s amazing and I also learned from the
descendants that a complete story would
honor all their ancestor
in their individuality their courage
their genius
it would make what has been largely
invisible visible
you know folks are frankly tired of
people being sort of extras in some
movie about progress people who lived
and died is just some sort of tragic
footnotes The Descendants also shared
with me that a complete story would not
leave slavery as an artifact of the past
but it would face up to the legacies of
slavery in our society and our country
today so you know I’ve been really
fortunate I’m getting to see a more
complete story even the parts that don’t
make me very comfortable and it is
changing the way I see America and maybe
that’s why I was so shocked by what
happened on August 12th in
Charlottesville I can’t forget that day
and I bet many of you here in the
theater were here as well you know on
that day I came to the Downtown Mall to
with to my best friend’s Dorothea and
Sonya and we were there to support
Sonya’s daughter who was going to be a
counter protester you know we wanted to
be witnesses and kind of offer whatever
moral courage or protection we could but
you know when I look back on that day I
look I gotta say I was pretty darn naive
you know it’s it’s one of those moments
and you know I felt like I was a soccer
aunt showing up to cheer on the kids
right what we ran into that day was a
wall of hate you know how was I really
gonna protect anybody even though I
wanted to from those men who are walk
around with ar-15s how was what I wanted
to say that day gonna be heard over the
fighting with the sticks and the clubs
we can talk intellectually about the
first and second amendments colliding
the monument debate or how a small city
got overwhelmed by a network of hate
groups or how a national conversation
has ripped the scabs off a city with a
painful past and present
but what I really saw and felt for the
first time that day was how personal the
conversation about race in America has
to get for us to get through it I hated
the hate I hated that the police
couldn’t or wouldn’t protect me I hated
that I felt totally powerless I hated
that on a day I thought love was gonna
triumph over hate hate beat the crap out
of love and I hated that even the
enemies on that day could invoke the
founding myths of America as their
mission statement that day I saw a lot
of unfinished business in this project
we call democracy and since then I’ve
had literally hundreds of whatnow
conversations and and I bet you have – I
you we we are all part of community and
I know that you’re working on ways to
make our society a better place
maybe you’ve been metaphorically walking
down that aisle and the discount
clothing store and you’re beginning to
see someone coming towards you out of
the corner of your eye you know you’re
beginning to make calculations about him
or her you know insulating yourself from
the interaction if they’re different
from you it’d be okay just to do a brief
murmur of acknowledgement right and
slide on by they don’t want to talk to
you any more than you want to talk to
them right and by the way they may be
way too lofty or their closet
conservative closet conservative or they
have incivility written all over them
right well going back to my day and that
discount clothing store some of these
thoughts are sort of going through my
head sad to say but I really want that
outfit that I can see over that woman’s
shoulder so as we get closer and closer
and she’s not getting out of the way I
take charge of the situation
I stand up very tall I suck in my
stomach and I execute my slide by angle
move and walked right into a mirror
yep that oblivious entitled woman in the
aisle was me that woman I was resenting
and and very annoyed by I was me that
person that I just knew was gonna take
something I wanted for me was me we all
have our blind spots and the things that
we don’t want to face up to but we have
this amazing moment as individuals as a
community and as a nation to really step
up and for the first time know our
history and our story more completely I
know my job is to look up and to have
the courage to face those truths that
are hidden to look into the eyes of the
stranger or into the eyes staring back
at me from the mirror but to have the
courage to take it all in thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
we’ve all had one of those days that
doesn’t go as planned we’re hoping this
is not that day but let me share with
you a day I’m in this large cavernous
discount shopping store doing clothes
shopping which I don’t really like to do
and I’m beginning to work my way down
this aisle it’s very tightly packed with
clothes almost claustrophobic but it
also seems to extend infinitely into the
distance now despite the fact that the
store is almost completely empty I
noticed there’s a woman in my aisle
typical right and to my horror I realize
even worse we’re gonna have to do the
shimmy you know that really awkward you
go left I go right you slide by one
another you know as an American with the
preferred social distance of at least a
hundred feet this is very uncomfortable
for me to consider so we’ve been sort of
exchanging glances out of the corner of
our eyes and this is sad to admit but I
don’t particularly like this woman white
middle-aged woman she seems really
oblivious to our predicament and she’s
not very responsive in a to me uh and
and I realized it’s even worse than that
she seems really entitled to be in my
aisle but I I’m looking over her
shoulder and I see that perfect outfit
that I just know I want so I know I’m
not the only crazy person that talks to
themself I can I can tell you all talk
to yourself too so I started having this
internal conversation why don’t you like
that woman you know just get over it
look her in the eye and deal with the
situation well you know I didn’t look at
her directly cuz I didn’t like what I
saw out of the corner of my eye I didn’t
want to be with her I didn’t want to
talk with her I didn’t even have any
social interaction there wasn’t any part
of me to thought maybe this is an
opportunity to get to know someone
exchange
– smile you know I think there’s
something there and basic realization we
don’t like to look at things that make
us uncomfortable that get too close that
require intimacy or opening up we want
people and things and ideas to confirm
what we already believe we want life to
turn out as planned
right at my day job at James Madison’s
Montpelier I’ve been wondering a lot
about what makes us comfortable and not
comfortable and what we see and don’t
see as Americans you know I for one I
want everyone to see the story of the US
Constitution in all its radical beauty
I’m really fond of this narrative of a
young scrappy country throwing off the
rule of a king crowd sourcing a
blueprint for a new kind of government
in creating and then adopting a
constitution that many people historians
consider a hinge point in human history
and that still resonates and inspires
people all over the world today who want
government by the people but I think you
know that’s only a little part of the
story we’re only seeing remembering part
of the narrative there’s a whole other
half of our story where that same
Constitution codified slavery without
ever using the word our origin story our
founding is based on freedom and slavery
it’s in our democratic DNA and this is
something I think many African American
families know just from their own family
history but a lot of us flat out deny
forget or don’t see now I can tell it
got really quiet and everyone’s worried
oh no she’s going to get political I
swear I’m not there there’s a lot of
that going around right now instead I
want to get personal growing up I was
pretty oblivious to issues about race
when you here where I lived you’re gonna
go I was
must’ve been in a military family but
that’s not true my father is a water
resource planner he’s here today and
he’d just like to move so I’m gonna give
you my list Utah Wyoming before high
school Utah Wyoming California New
Mexico Wisconsin three places Idaho
Maine Nebraska and finally Virginia
growing up this way
I saw a geographically diverse United
States it was fantastic but but let’s
face it most of the communities I’m
growing up in everyone looks just like
me right
and I had some beautiful beautiful
places growing up but it left me with a
few holes I’m gonna share just one story
growing up in rural Maine we had a field
trip once a year to a theater in Bangor
the big city of Bangor and we saw five
years in a row the same film five years
in a row you’re getting the rhythm here
right and that film was gone with the
wind which I frankly absorbed as a
documentary film about the south in case
I’m just letting the rest of you know
it’s not yeah since then I’ve really had
by the privilege of having most of my
work life here in Virginia went to the
University of Virginia not once but
twice wah-hoo-wah
and I’ve had some really interesting
jobs and opportunities but I moved back
from Montana to Virginia five years ago
because I was so interested in and as
equally baffled by our American story
yeah I told people I want to be part of
telling a more complete American story
but you know honestly when I I didn’t
really know what I was talking about
since then I’ve been hearing a lot and
I’m sure you have too what is our
American story
who owns the narrative there was this
really passionate fabulous talk by the
mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu
recently and in this talk he was talking
about hey you know what are we doing
with the Civil War monuments and about
their decision to take some of them down
he says in this talk and this is what’s
so true for me
I must have walked by those monuments a
million times and never given them a
second thought and then he went on to
share hey I’m not judging anybody I
don’t judge people we all take our own
journey on race and and I’ve been taking
my own journey too at Montpelier we
recently opened a new exhibition about
slavery and the Constitution and I have
the good fortune to be able to learn
more about race and slavery from people
who were descended from folks who’d been
enslaved on James Madison’s plantation I
had a chance to learn from Rebecca
Gilmore Coleman now Rebecca is the
great-granddaughter of George Gilmore
and after emancipation he built the
little white cabin across the entrance
from Appeal your’e Rebecca is with us
here today so thank you for Rekha for
being here Rebecca very poignant Lee
describes herself as being three
generations removed from being enslaved
at Montpelier and Rebecca is also the
woman who had the courage 20 years ago
to drive down that long winding road and
say to the people who were working at
Montpelier then hey there’s some very
important and interesting stories to
tell here tell our story I’ve also had a
chance to get to know and Margaret
Jordan and she is the third
great-granddaughter of Paul Jennings now
Margaret who lives in Texas and serves
on our board is rightfully proud of her
ancestor Paul Jennings he led an epic
life that can really inspire all of us
he’s born into slavery at Montpelier
he’s credited as a young man for helping
to save the portrait of George
Washington when the White House is
burned by the British in 1812 he gains
his own freedom completely by the dint
of his own effort then he goes on and he
uses his freedom to save others and the
Underground Railroad and he writes the
first account of life in the White House
it’s amazing and I also learned from the
descendants that a complete story would
honor all their ancestor
in their individuality their courage
their genius
it would make what has been largely
invisible visible
you know folks are frankly tired of
people being sort of extras in some
movie about progress people who lived
and died is just some sort of tragic
footnotes The Descendants also shared
with me that a complete story would not
leave slavery as an artifact of the past
but it would face up to the legacies of
slavery in our society and our country
today so you know I’ve been really
fortunate I’m getting to see a more
complete story even the parts that don’t
make me very comfortable and it is
changing the way I see America and maybe
that’s why I was so shocked by what
happened on August 12th in
Charlottesville I can’t forget that day
and I bet many of you here in the
theater were here as well you know on
that day I came to the Downtown Mall to
with to my best friend’s Dorothea and
Sonya and we were there to support
Sonya’s daughter who was going to be a
counter protester you know we wanted to
be witnesses and kind of offer whatever
moral courage or protection we could but
you know when I look back on that day I
look I gotta say I was pretty darn naive
you know it’s it’s one of those moments
and you know I felt like I was a soccer
aunt showing up to cheer on the kids
right what we ran into that day was a
wall of hate you know how was I really
gonna protect anybody even though I
wanted to from those men who are walk
around with ar-15s how was what I wanted
to say that day gonna be heard over the
fighting with the sticks and the clubs
we can talk intellectually about the
first and second amendments colliding
the monument debate or how a small city
got overwhelmed by a network of hate
groups or how a national conversation
has ripped the scabs off a city with a
painful past and present
but what I really saw and felt for the
first time that day was how personal the
conversation about race in America has
to get for us to get through it I hated
the hate I hated that the police
couldn’t or wouldn’t protect me I hated
that I felt totally powerless I hated
that on a day I thought love was gonna
triumph over hate hate beat the crap out
of love and I hated that even the
enemies on that day could invoke the
founding myths of America as their
mission statement that day I saw a lot
of unfinished business in this project
we call democracy and since then I’ve
had literally hundreds of whatnow
conversations and and I bet you have – I
you we we are all part of community and
I know that you’re working on ways to
make our society a better place
maybe you’ve been metaphorically walking
down that aisle and the discount
clothing store and you’re beginning to
see someone coming towards you out of
the corner of your eye you know you’re
beginning to make calculations about him
or her you know insulating yourself from
the interaction if they’re different
from you it’d be okay just to do a brief
murmur of acknowledgement right and
slide on by they don’t want to talk to
you any more than you want to talk to
them right and by the way they may be
way too lofty or their closet
conservative closet conservative or they
have incivility written all over them
right well going back to my day and that
discount clothing store some of these
thoughts are sort of going through my
head sad to say but I really want that
outfit that I can see over that woman’s
shoulder so as we get closer and closer
and she’s not getting out of the way I
take charge of the situation
I stand up very tall I suck in my
stomach and I execute my slide by angle
move and walked right into a mirror
yep that oblivious entitled woman in the
aisle was me that woman I was resenting
and and very annoyed by I was me that
person that I just knew was gonna take
something I wanted for me was me we all
have our blind spots and the things that
we don’t want to face up to but we have
this amazing moment as individuals as a
community and as a nation to really step
up and for the first time know our
history and our story more completely I
know my job is to look up and to have
the courage to face those truths that
are hidden to look into the eyes of the
stranger or into the eyes staring back
at me from the mirror but to have the
courage to take it all in thank you
[Applause]
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