Welch, Fellow Speakers Visit Philadelphia to Lead Landmark Discussion on the State of our Nation
PHILADELPHIA—House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and African-American State House Speakers from across the country gathered in Philadelphia on Thursday, recognizing the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence for a first-of-a-kind conversation on the state of our nation from the perspective of state leaders and champions for equity and justice.
Welch joined Pennsylvania Speaker JoAnna McClinton, New York Speaker Carl Heastie, and Delaware Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown for “A More Perfect Union: From Independence to Inclusion,” a landmark group discussion on the promises written into that document and the ongoing effort to fully realize those words for all Americans.
“Marking America’s historic 250th anniversary in this city where our nation was born is a reminder that the words of our founding are an inspiring vision of what America can be and should be. And this gathering of leaders—each the first Black Speaker in our state’s history—is proof that what unites us as a nation is not where our ancestors came from, what we look like, or what we believe, but by our shared dream of a nation where all are created equal,” Welch said. “So while we celebrate what has always been best about America, we cannot hide from times when we have fallen short of those ideals, and we can’t look away from the forces that seek to pull us back today. Now more than ever, we need to call out the undemocratic impulses and the force of injustice that we see, and we need to uplift the voices across our country that are continuing the work of building ‘a more perfect union.’”
Held at historic Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia—just blocks from Independence Hall, site of our nation’s founding—the discussion focused on the struggle to fully realize the “inalienable rights” written into our Declaration of Independence—including the challenges endured by generations of people enslaved, displaced, and disenfranchised in a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal. Welch and his colleagues also shared personal observations on the 250th anniversary of the country, and acknowledgments of the many ways trailblazers, organizers, and allies throughout our history have worked to more fully realize the principles of our founding.
As leaders of their states, the Speakers also shared their views on the condition of our democracy at a time when undemocratic ideas proliferate from Washington, invoking Benjamin Franklin’s prescient warning that the United States is “a Republic, if you can keep it.” Today, as Trump-appointed judges target the hard-won gains of the Civil Rights Movement, Speaker Welch has pushed to write endangered provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act into Illinois’ State Constitution. Under Speaker Welch’s leadership, Illinois has also added new protections for reproductive rights and equal pay, while continuing his push for race and gender diversity on corporate boards and among state contractors.
“It’s not lost on us that while we are gathered here to reflect on the future of our country, a very different gathering convenes in Texas to look back on their efforts to gerrymander away diverse representation, to strip away the rights that women and people of color have struggled for, and to let a demagogue run roughshod over our Constitution while enriching himself and his family in the process,” Welch said. “But America has never been defined simply by the whims of imperfect men. America is bigger than that. America is liberty, justice, and equality for all—and in Illinois we will always hold true to those values.”