Rebuilding the Union

It’s time to Reframe the issues that have been used to divide us and start the conversations that can restore our faith in each other, renew our hope, and repair the social fabric of this country that has been torn apart. 

We begin this journey to Rebuild our Union the day after the inauguration of a new president, launching in tandem with The People’s Inauguration on January 21st, 2020.  Because, while a new approach to governing and a new oath of office for our president are necessary to begin healing and transitioning America, they cannot stand on their own without a commitment from the people to the hard labor ahead. That work belongs to us. Only WE can bring our communities together, tend to our wounds, and begin the labor of reckoning, reimagining and remaking our nation block-by-block and heart-to-heart. We need an experience of collective renewal and vision that runs throughout the year. 

We launch with a portrait of Valarie Kaur of the Revolutionary Love Project because we are a nation in transition, and it is time for Rebirth.  We begin this year with Revolutionary Love because it’s the work that needs to be done before any other work can be done. This is a challenging time to talk about empathy, outreach, and love but how else can we Rebuild our Union? What other foundation can we lay down but love? Revolutionary love is scary but necessary in these times.

The RE- prefix will be the backbone of this project, because its meaning and use is both forwards and backwards looking.  It reminds us: “Don’t forget where you came from, and don’t forget where you’re going.” Rebuilding the Union will focus on that pause that we need as we begin the next lap in the cycle, and it will focus on the leadership and messaging that can help renew our missions and reaffirm our values as we start again.

With your help, we will use augmented reality in this campaign, to transform the analog posters, stickers, and murals we are known for at Amplifier into art that comes to life and delivers a call to action with messages straight from community leaders in their own voices and a journey into the deeper conversations that have always been just beneath the surface of this artwork. Using the Amplifier AR app you can point your phone at any of this work and hear directly from a new generation of icons leading this conversation.

The goal of this project is to reach at least 10.5 million Americans, because it has been shown that to shift the consciousness of a whole society you need to reach 3.5% of the population.  By using a common vocabulary that shows our shared humanity, and our shared desires to feel safe, seen, and respected no matter where we live or what political party we identify with, we will start this conversation in communities across the country, far from the big urban centers that have been the focus of so much activism—to cities like Mesa and Aurora and Tulsa and Jacksonville and to rural communities in between. This project will reach new audiences in communities beyond the urban echo chambers through full page ads, targeted teacher outreach, partnerships with faith-based communities, and with toolkits sent to your homes and to 50,000+ educators in our network at the start of the next school year. 

We don’t have all the answers for you, but we can offer many possible frames to look at how we move forward, and plenty of questions we believe we must all answer. We are about to embark on a year-long journey to answer these questions WITH you, not FOR you. This year will be a conversation. 

That conversation starts today as we invite you to join Valarie and our partners at Dream Corps and the Revolutionary Love Project for The People’s Inauguration!

See you there, and stay tuned for more as we release new art and icons every month throughout the year!

Partners