First, there is a prerequisite: the recognition on the part of the established powers that people have a right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. And it doesn’t matter whether those decisions have to do with schools or housing or some other aspect of their lives. There is a corollary to this prerequisite: the citizens themselves must be conscious of the fact that this is their right. Then comes the question, how do you reach people if they aren’t already conscious of this right? And how do you break down resistance on the part of powers that be toward citizens becoming participants in decision making?

I don’t have any cut pattern, except that I believe that people, when informed about the things they are concerned with, will find a way to react. … In organizing a community, you start with people where they are…

You didn’t see me on television, you didn’t see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don’t need strong leaders.

In response to hearing a US naval officer claim, "Our country, right or wrong!" Sen. Carl Schurz responded to the jingoist line with a deeper perspective on true patriotism. He said,

My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect and defend” it.

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Those of who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the principles of Americanism: The right to criticize. The right to hold unpopular beliefs. The right to protest. The right of independent thought. The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us does not? Otherwise none of us could call our own souls our own.

But I believe there’s something deeper, something that involves Berlin’s whole look and feel and way of life — not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations. Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love both profound and abiding.

Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront. Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower’s one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere — that sphere that towers over all Berlin the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, “This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.” Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

My fellow Americans, it is my great privilege to welcome you to citizenship in the democracy that is the U.S.A. Today you join more than 20 million current citizens who were born in other lands; who chose, as you have, to make the United States of America their home. We are a nation made strong by people like you — people who have traveled long distances, overcome great obstacles and made tremendous sacrifices all to provide a better life for themselves and their families.

My own father arrived in this land at age 13 with no fortune and speaking no English. My mother was born four months after her parents, with several children in tow, came by ship to Ellis Island. My father and grandparents reached as you do for the American dream. As testament to our nation’s promise, the daughter and granddaughter of these immigrants sits on the highest court in the land and will proudly administer the oath of citizenship to you.

You have studied our system of government and you know of its twin pillars. First, our government has limited power. It can exercise only the authority expressly given to it by the Constitution; and, second, citizens of this country enjoy certain fundamental rights. Those rights are our nation’s hallmark and pride. They are set forth in the Bill of Rights and other amendments to the Constitution. They are inalienable, yielding to no government decree. And our constitution opens with the words, “We the people of the United States.” By limiting government, specifying rights, and empowering the people, the founders of the United States of America proclaimed that the heart of America would be its citizens not its rulers. After the words, “We the people of the United States,” the Constitution sets out the aspiration to form a more perfect union. At the start it is true the union was very much in need of perfection. The original constitution permitted slavery and severely limited who counted among “We the People.” When the nation was new only white property-owning men had the right to vote — the most basic right of citizenship. But over the course of our history people left out at the start, people held in human bondage, Native Americans, and women — 50 percent of the population — came to be embraced as full citizens.

A French observer of early America, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote, "The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults." Through amendments to our constitution, and court decisions applying those amendments, we abolished slavery, prohibited racial discrimination, and made men and women people of equal citizenship stature. In the vanguard of those perfections were citizens just like you, of every race and creed, making ever more vibrant our national creed: E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one). We have made huge progress but the work of perfection is scarcely done. Many stains remain. In this rich land nearly a quarter of our children live in deep poverty, nearly half of our citizens do not vote. And we still struggle to achieve greater understanding of each other across racial, religious, and socio-economic lines. Yet we strive to realize the ideal to make a more perfect union. As new, well-informed citizens, you will play a vital part in that endeavor by first and foremost voting in elections, serving on juries, and engaging in civic discourse. We sing of America sweet land of liberty. Newcomers to our shore, people like you, came here from the earliest days of our nation to today, seeking liberty, freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be you and me.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

...

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Yes that was me you saw shaking with bravery, with a government issued rifle on my back. I’m sorry I could not greet you as you deserved, my relative.

They were not my tears. I have a reservoir inside. They will be cried by my sons, my daughters if I can’t learn how to turn tears to stone.

Yes, that was me standing in the back door of the house in the alley, with fresh corn and bread for the neighbors.

I did not foresee the flood of blood. How they would forget our friendship, would return to kill me and the babies.

Yes, that was me whirling on the dance floor. We made such a racket with all that joy. I loved the whole world in that silly music.

I did not realize the terrible dance in the staccato of bullets.

Yes. I smelled the burning grease of corpses. And like a fool I expected our words might rise up and jam the artillery in the hands of dictators.

We had to keep going. We sang our grief to clean the air of turbulent spirits.

Yes, I did see the terrible black clouds as I cooked dinner. And the messages of the dying spelled there in the ashy sunset. Every one addressed: “mother”.

There was nothing about it in the news. Everything was the same. Unemployment was up. Another queen crowned with flowers. Then there were the sports scores.

Yes, the distance was great between your country and mine. Yet our children played in the path between our houses.

No. We had no quarrel with each other.

Former poet laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, recites "Let Us Gather in a Flourishing Way" which he wrote for the Rural Assembly Everywhere.

Watch it here >

Looking back on this year, what are you most proud of?

Listen. Learn. Serve. Gather. Circulate Power. Join. Argue Better. Advocate. Vote. These are some of the ways we can live like citizens. Which of these do you want to do more of? What words would you add to this list?

What commitments do you want to make in the coming year to live like a citizen?

What are you willing to change your mind about?

What do you believe America needs right now....Repair? Reckoning? Love? Truth? What does your community need right now?

Who or what do you feel responsible for? What do we owe each other, as neighbors? As Americans?

What does a strong civic culture look like? What would happening in a country that has a strong civic culture?

What will be needed restore our faith in our fellow Americans and in our country?

Who inspires you to imagine something better than the status quo?

It's not 'My country, right or wrong', but rather: My country, when right to be kept right, and when wrong to be set right. What does this quote (from Sen. Carl Schurz in 1899) mean do you?

What have you learned this year about our democracy and what it needs to be healthy & vibrant?

What is the role of a citizen in a democracy?

When in your life do you feel like you learned the most about our democracy and how it works? Where could you turn to learn more now?

How do we all take responsibility here at home, at school, or in our town?

Who are some responsible people that you know? How do they act?

What does the word community mean to you? Why is it important to be part of a community?

Why is it important to be a good listener? How do you practice good listening?

I pledge to be an active American

to show up for others

to govern my self

to help govern my community

I recommit myself to my country’s creed

to cherish liberty as a responsibility

I pledge to serve and to push my county

when right, to be kept right; when wrong to be set right

Wherever my ancestors and I were born

I claim America

and I pledge to live like a citizen.

Learn more at swornagainamerica.us.