Prologue
In purposeful collaboration and affirming thought, the following Declaration of Liberation has been written. It has been written for our African and Indigenous Ancestors, whose spiritual and intellectual alignment created the foundations of civilization that support every aspect of our existence, though for some, these contributions still remain as a mystery. It is written for African and Indigenous-descended people throughout the Diaspora who enrich the world with culture in spite of and because of. It is written for our Ancestors here in the United States of America who toiled and persisted, who created and laughed and loved, who want us to win. It is written for you, in testament. It is written for our children in promise.
It stands as an invitation to all people who believe that freedom is more than the absence of oppression, yet it is the presence of dignity, belonging, opportunity, healing, and self-determination.
May these words call us toward a deeper recognition of our shared humanity and our collective responsibility to create a world where all people have the opportunity to be wholly and holistically free.
A DECLARATION OF LIBERATION
Conceived in Reflection to the Semiquincentennial (the 250th Anniversary of the Signing of The Declaration of Independence)
We, the undersigned, declare our commitment to the ongoing work of liberation, dignity, repair and shared humanity in the United States of America.
We believe that freedom is not merely inherited through documents or declared through history, but realized through how we live, how we govern, how we relate, and how we care for one another.
We acknowledge that this nation was shaped through profound contradiction—founded upon ideals of liberty while built through the labor, displacement, exploitation, and exclusion of many people, particularly African and Indigenous communities whose humanity, labor, land, contributions, and freedoms were exploited, erased, or denied across generations without repair.
We affirm that truth is essential to freedom.
That remembrance is essential to repair.
That justice is essential to democracy.
And that no society can truly thrivefully thrive while people remain unseen, unheard, unsafe, or systemically denied dignity and opportunity
We declare that Black liberation is inseparable from collective liberation because a society cannot be free while any people remain structurally oppressed.
That when Black people are free to live fully, safely, creatively, spiritually, socially and economically, the moral fabric of this nation is strengthened for all people.
We reject systems, policies, and practices that diminish human worth, encourage division, or perpetuate inequity.
We reject hatred, dehumanization, indifference, and the normalization of, specifically race-based, suffering.
We affirm the inherent worth of every human being.
We believe liberation begins within; through self-awareness, healing, education, accountability, and the reclaiming of one’s humanity.
We believe that liberation flourishes with the reclaiming of one’s cultural strengths and historical accomplishments.
We believe that liberation is evidenced by equal access to a generosity of resources.
We believe liberation begins within through self-awareness, healing, education, accountability, and the reclaiming of one’s humanity. And we believe liberation must also move outwardly into our institutions, communities, economies, schools, public spaces, and systems of governance.”
We commit ourselves to building a society rooted in:
truth over denial,
repair over avoidance,
connection over division,
stewardship over extraction,
justice over inequity,
and humanity over fear.
We honor the ancestors, leaders, organizers, artists, educators, healers, workers, and everyday people whose courage, resistance, labor, and imagination carried this nation forward even when the nation failed to carry them.
We recognize that liberation is not passive.
It requires participation.
It requires responsibility.
It requires courage.
It requires the willingness to confront harm while imagining new possibilities for our shared future.
We claim joy as a human right.
Rest as restoration.
Creativity as resistance.
Care as collective survival.
Love as a civic practice.
And community as essential infrastructure for a healthy democracy.
As the United States of America marks 250 years as an independent nation, we choose not only to acknowledge the past, but to shape the future.
We choose to become builders,
of trust,
of equity,
of opportunity,
of belonging,
of cultural remembrance and sensitivity,
and of futures rooted in dignity and rich opportunity for generations to come.
This declaration is not symbolic alone. It is a call to action.
We invite individuals, organizations, institutions, and communities to sign onto these principles through both word and practice:
by embracing collaboration as essential to growth,
by telling the truth,
by protecting human dignity,
by seeking equity,
by advancing justice,
by cultivating connection,
by uplifting our children’s potential,
by investing in people and places,
and by participating in the continual work of liberation.
May this declaration serve as a living civic and moral resolution for this generation and those that follow.
We, the People, declare ourselves responsible for one another.
We, the People, declare liberation to be a shared responsibility.
And we, the People, commit to living as if humanity belongs to us all.
Signed,
Omilade Janine Bell
Dr. Ram Bhagat
Gary Flowers
Ashley Williams Hillman