I invite you to join me on Tuesday, September 1, from 5–7 p.m. at VCU’s W.E. Singleton Center for our Symposium “Virginia at 250: Leadership, Democracy and the Future of Our Commonwealth.” I will be joined by former Virginia Governor and U.S. Ambassador Jim Gilmore, political analyst Bob Holsworth, Ph.D., who will moderate our conversation, political analyst Larry J. Sabato, Ph.D., Dean Catherine Ingrassia, Ph.D., and Wilder School Interim Dean Robyn McDougle, Ph.D.
As we prepare for this engaging discussion, I have written an op-ed reflecting on Virginia’s historic role in our nation and the responsibility we have to help shape its future. You can also read it online at Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Freedom is Never Guaranteed
L. Douglas Wilder
America has been described as a nation in search of itself. I subscribe to that observation and have been fortunate to witness and to be a part of this continuing journey.
It is disappointing to witness the actions of those who have benefited from our nation’s historic and steadfast commitment to securing our rights and freedoms we take for granted. I remain mindful of the oft repeated admonition, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
A war was fought, and many died, so that others might breathe the air of freedom. Yet even after that enormous sacrifice, the highest court in the land decreed that some Americans could be denied the rights and protections afforded to others simply because of the color of their skin.
Our nation has emerged from much of that shameful period because Americans challenged injustice and insisted that the promise of equality must extend to all. That progress was neither automatic nor inevitable. It was achieved because generations of Americans demanded that this nation live more faithfully by the principles it professed. We should never mistake progress for completion.
My grandparents were born into slavery. Though I never knew them, their experiences and their belief in freedom were passed down through our family. My mother insisted that my father tell us how his parents endured those times and what they taught him about perseverance, dignity, education, and the meaning of freedom. Those lessons were not abstractions. They were part of our family history, and they helped shape my understanding of America and my responsibility to it.
Education has always been essential to the enlightenment and advancement of our nation. Yet today, there are those who would reduce that responsibility to three letters of the alphabet, DEI. Whatever those letters may mean to them, they cannot erase our obligation to know our history, to understand it, to learn from it, and to ensure that future generations are not denied knowledge of the journey that brought us here.
We must all dip into that wellspring of history and benefit from its lessons. History is not something to fear, sanitize, or ignore. Nor should it be selectively remembered for convenience. History should inform us, challenge us, and help prepare us to meet the responsibilities of the present and the future.
That obligation is especially important in our institutions of higher education. Even at the school that bears my name, we must continually ask whether we are fully honoring that responsibility.
A school devoted to government, public affairs, leadership, and service cannot merely teach the mechanics of government. It must prepare students to examine history, confront difficult truths, question inequity, engage differing perspectives, and understand that the work of democracy remains unfinished.
To ignore how much remains to be done would dishonor not only the history we have inherited, but also the students entrusted to us for their education and preparation as future leaders.
The freedoms we enjoy were neither inevitable nor freely given. They were secured through sacrifice, courage, vigilance, and the determination of generations who believed America could become more faithful to its own promises. Each generation inherits both the benefits of that struggle and the responsibility to carry it forward.
On Tuesday, September 1, I invite the public to join us at Virginia Commonwealth University for Virginia at 250: Leadership, Democracy, and the Future of Our Commonwealth, presented by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. This timely conversation will examine Virginia’s enduring influence on America and the responsibilities of leadership as we consider the future of our Commonwealth and our nation.
The symposium will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the W.E. Singleton Center and is free and open to the public. At a time when our nation continues to wrestle with questions of equality, opportunity, leadership, accountability, and the meaning of democracy itself, such conversations are not merely worthwhile, they are necessary.
The lessons of history belong to all of us. So, too, does the responsibility for what comes next. Our journey continues. And so must our vigilance.
Stay tuned.
