1. Vote (if you haven’t already) and encourage at least one other person to vote.
2. Watch this video.
Triumph of the Human Spirit: Dr. Lorenzo Pace
It’s five minutes and forty-five seconds long. You have time.
The film focuses on Dr. Pace’s sculpture “Triumph of the Human Spirit” which stands in Foley Square in NYC and the events which led to its creation.
Dr. Lorenzo Pace : artist, author, master storyteller and performance artist, and lecturer
What motivates me to create art is the precious opportunity to inspire others to think higher, deeper, and larger; to think about the value and necessity of caring for themselves, others, and our planet; to think simply of other ways of being, seeing, learning, loving and manifesting a greater degree of peace in our world. - - Dr. Lorenzo Pace
Here’s more from the Office of the Mayor, New York:
Zohran Mamdani: Mayor of New York, degree from Bowdoin College in Africana Studies, musician and composer
On Juneteenth, we honor not only the end of slavery but the generations of Black New Yorkers who fought for freedom, built our city and expanded the process of democracy. Dr. Pace’s work reminds us that our responsibility is to continue the unfinished work of extending freedom and justice to all. - - Mayor Zohran Mamdani
Why do I want you to watch this video, especially today?
In five minutes this film immerses us in the arts, humanities, a deeply American story about chattel slavery and its legacy, the importance of telling the truth about history, and what it looks like when elected public servants value all of that and raise it up as vital to the community experience.
Mayor Zamdani does not make this about himself. He uses the social capital that comes with his office to shine a light on a New York story that many might not know otherwise. He is content to let someone else be in the spotlight. He knows that his own personal story is not the only story.
He’s not afraid of that. He celebrates it.
When you vote, choose people who understand that and live that in their words and in their work. Leadership and true public service can be nothing less.
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