By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last week, prominent elected officials, civil rights advocates, faith leaders, and community members from around the region gathered to discuss the future of American policy and culture at a public town hall event hosted at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship. The main topic of discussion centered around the far-right proposal “Project 2025,” which supporters plan to implement if Donald Trump is successful in his bid for president of the United States.
According to the document, Project 2025 calls for the elimination of thousands of civil servants, expanding the power of the president, dismantling the Department of Education, sweeping tax cuts, a ban on pornography, halting sales of abortion pills, and more. There is a sharp contrast between Project 2025 and other visions for America, particularly regarding abortion, with Project 2025 advocating for much more aggressive anti-abortion policies.
“Project 2025 is a roadmap back to 1955 America,” says Rev. Dr. Leslie D. Braxton, Pastor of New Beginnings Christian Fellowship. “We want to inform people of its content, its aim, and its intent about how they want to use the next conservative presidency as the opportunity to relandscape American society to what it was seventy-five years ago.”
“We want to educate people on what Project 2025 is because that is one vision of America versus a DEI America that the right has been making fun of, but we embrace it because we want a nation that celebrates diversity, pursues equity, and practices inclusion. It’s called a more perfect union,” Braxton continued.
Angela Rye, journalist, entrepreneur, and Seattle native, emphasizes the importance of understanding the impact Project 2025 will have on preserving American democracy if enacted.
“Understanding Project 2025 is imperative,” says Rye. “It is imperative to preserve democracy and construct the more perfect union we all deserve.”
“Project 2025 could undermine our country’s checks and balances that safeguard our democracy,” says Derrick Wheeler-Smith of the City of Seattle Office of Civil Rights. “Our civil liberties, environmental regulations, and labor rights are at stake. Getting engaged and voting against Project 2025 this fall is crucial to maintaining equitable protections that ensure justice, fairness, and opportunity for all Americans.”
One of the main concerns policymakers have with Project 2025 is that many people may not read the document and take it seriously enough to fight against it by turning out to vote.
“Project 2025 is an explicit and comprehensive instruction manual for rolling back policies advanced by the Civil Rights Act and the War on Poverty,” says State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos. “This generation cannot and must not allow our own ignorance and complacency to contribute to the eradication of these hard-won civil rights and freedoms. We must arm ourselves with a precise understanding of how this conservative agenda threatens our children, our elders, and our communities. Then, we must spring into action: spread the warning and get out the vote!”
Legendary civil rights attorney Lem Howell, Esq. provided an overview of Project 2025 and its potential impacts on American life and culture. Following this, other distinguished speakers, such as Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland of the 10th Congressional District, shared their perspectives on the project compared to a more progressive and inclusive vision for the United States and Washington in particular.
“As we look at Project 2025, I have a confession to make, I really had not heard it with a formal title called Project 2025. But if you look at the contents, one thing is very, very clear: Project 2025 seeks to take away every right, every protection we have fought for over the past 60 years,” says Strickland. “As Mr. Howell mentioned earlier, everything from the EPA to the court system to housing, to women’s right to choose, to discrimination, everything we have fought for is at risk. And I was trying to see how I could sum it up in one word: fear of a nation that is more just and equitable for all of us.”
The town hall meeting represented a unique and safe space for community engagement and an informed discussion on key issues to strengthen the country’s resolve against radical and divisive agendas that could negatively affect families, communities, and society.
“The strength of our country is in our people working together as one for a common goal,” says Ram Dixi, President of the MLK Gandhi Empowerment Initiative. “Radical and divisive agendas that attempt to pit our people against each other only serve to weaken us and help our adversaries.”