Friends,
Last month, I was in Washington DC for three days of meetings with hundreds of mayors – a diverse group from big and little cities, Democrats and Republicans, women and men, different races, from all around the country, all there.
Two observations about that conference:
It’s SO DIFFERENT from Washington DC federal politics to be among mayors who have to get things done every day, and whose constituents know right where they live, and who just want their communities to succeed. Mayors share ideas and focus on who is getting results and how we can all learn (steal) from each other. We don’t care where an idea came from, we care whether it’s making lives better. That’s what politics should be about. And it usually is in our cities.
It’s SO ENCOURAGING to realize the resilience in America that comes from our hundreds of metropolitan areas where millions of people share pride in their communities and work together to meet challenges. When America can seem hopelessly divided and angry, remember that in hundreds of cities people of all walks of life are working together to improve life for all. That’s true in Bloomington, and all around the country, and it is a source of tremendous strength and resilience for us all.
Thanks to all who every day keep making Bloomington more resilient and more just.
February is Black History Month, and I hope you’ll enjoy some of the great activities going on around Bloomington (see calendar). I hope you also had the chance to celebrate the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with a day on not a day off, and to recommit to the racial justice and equity we need.
I was reminded recently about Dr. King’s visit to India in 1959, where he honored his assassinated hero, Mahatma Gandhi. King quoted about Gandhi the words attributed to Secretary Stanton at President Lincoln’s deathbed, “Now he belongs to the ages.” That is so true too about Dr. King today – he belongs to the ages. How those three courageous leaders so helped better our world.
Please keep your hope alive, and your commitment to progress, which depends on each one of us to do our part. It’s happening all around us and, as another great leader once said, “Yes We Can!”
Democratically yours,
John
PS: Please join Dawn and me at 7pm Thursday, Feb 20th for the State of the City event at the Buskirk Chumley. Good music and spoken word, and good plans for Bloomington! Doors open at 6:30pm. Be there!