On February 17, I participated in an extraordinary dialogue at La Casa de la Raza about the need for a community alliance in support of education as a crucible for deepening our capacity for participatory democracy. Like the many other events that I have attended at this important center of community life, the dialogue brought together people of different backgrounds, identities, and social positions to explore how we can help make a better city for all of us.
After that meeting, I learned that the Board of Directors of La Casa is taking steps to restructure its debt in order to continue the important work that takes place there. Their success is very important for our future.
In a society where public life in increasingly dominated by hate, hurt, and fear, in a world where mass mediated spectacles and degradation ceremonies substitute for deliberative talk and face-to-face decision making, institutions like La Casa play a vital role.
I intend to do all I can to support its survival and hope that others committed to social justice and a healthy civic life will do the same.