Statement on Assembly, Leadership and Democracy

Americans are assembling. It is a right enshrined in the First Amendment of our constitution. The right to assemble is the right to come together, to act in concert, to petition the government for a redress of grievances, to resist injustice, to start a conversation, to listen, to see beyond narrow self-interest, to recognize and embrace our shared humanity. Assembly, coming together, takes many forms. Today, thousands of Americans are assembling in peaceful protests that ask us to reflect on what we can do to improve our democracy.

The American Assembly stands firmly behind all forms of assembly that ask us to make the personal and social changes needed to bring us closer to the just, equitable society we embrace.

Today we read about an “absence of leadership” in Washington. But leadership is not absent. The President of the United States exercises leadership when he enflames dissent by calling for a militarized response to peaceful protest or by ordering security agents to teargas law-abiding citizens. The President of the United States exercises leadership when he says nothing about the horror of police brutality. The President of the United States exercises leadership when he says nothing about the more than 100,000 people who have died from Covid-19.

The American Assembly stands against leadership that threatens our fundamental democratic norms, through silence or action, whether that threat arises from malice or incompetence or both.

Leadership, though, is not reserved for those in power. We can all exercise leadership to ensure fundamental democratic norms.  Every day we see this in the news. Police who, when ordered to participate in an unjust action, step away. Sheriffs who take off their armor and join a peaceful protest. Religious leaders who remind us that their sacred books are not props. College football players who tweet that they stand with their brothers and sisters against injustice. Protesters who march on the street, in the face of both violence and a pandemic disproportionately harming their communities, and demand that the rights accorded white Americans be accorded to all Americans. Leadership is everyone who does what they can do, to assemble, to come together, to act collectively, to speak in peaceful protest, to converse, to be open to others.

The American Assembly stands for leadership in support of our fragile democracy, for the right to assemble, for the right to invite others into a conversation, for the right to ask that we be better than we currently are.

-- For more than half a century, the American Assembly has been experimenting with new ways to bring Americans together to strengthen our democracy and build a more equitable society.  Our work tells us, for example, that the right to assemble is not the right to gather with the intent of intimidating others. It is not the right to silence those with whom we disagree.  It is not the right to put others at harm by ignoring their health. Likewise, the American Assembly has long been thinking about and striving to advance leadership in support of democratic norms. These twin themes, leadership and assembly, are central to our program on trust and democracy today.