‘This isn’t about any one administration’: protests kick off in DC to reimagine the next 250 years in the US

Next250 will debut a new art installation in DC that features the collective values they believe should define the next 250 years of America’s story Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Next250 will debut a new art installation in DC that features the collective values they believe should define the next 250 years of America’s story Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images ‘This isn’t about any one administration’: protests kick off in DC to reimagine the next 250 years in the US Next250’s Declaration of Interdependence, a new art gallery that features Americans’ collective values and hopes for the future, will open in McPherson Square Thousands are expected to gather a block away from the White House today to unveil their vision for America’s future. At the Next250 All of US rally, held a week before the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, organizers will launch their Declaration of Interdependence , an art installation featuring the collective values they believe should define the next 250 years of America’s story. The pledge – a take on the Declaration of Independence, the country’s founding text – aims to build a country where everyone can earn a living wage, have access to green spaces and feel safe in their communities, activists said. “This event isn’t about any one administration or president,” said Linda Sarsour, an organizer with the Next250, one of the grassroots groups that organized the event. “This is about staking our place in the historic archive. So when people look back at the 250th commemoration and ask ‘Where were the movements?’ they will see this commitment from all of us.” To create the Declaration of Interdependence, activists held listening sessions in 36 states, Puerto Rico and even El Salvador, where they collected ideas from people recently deported from the US. What came back, Sarsour said, is that most Americans, from workers in Iowa to undocumented residents in Detroit to Black Americans in Mississippi, agree on a set of basic universal values: economic security, healthcare, safe schools and a livable planet. “Neighbor to neighbor, we’re actually not as polarized as people want us to believe,” she said. Aside from the DC flagship event, more than 100 Next250 events will take place across the country, from rallies to teach-ins, according to organizers. In Los Angeles, an event titled Learn the History They Want You to Forget will include a walking tour recognizing sites significant to Black, Latino, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities. The event comes as the Trump administration kicked off its Fourth of July celebration, Freedom 250, on Thursday, with a Trump campaign-style rally and a 16-day “American state fair”. Next250 organizers see Donald Trump’s celebration as a partisan spectacle rather than a genuine reckoning with the country’s history, arriving at a moment when they say the most basic constitutional protections are under attack. Freedom 250 amounts to an “effort