America Me: 250 Years of Promise and Prejudice

Monday July 27 * 7pm * Free
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this month, Rhizome DC will host “America Me: 250 years of Promise & Prejudice”, a seminar presented by activist Pelumi Olatinpo, author of the social commentary Manifest Destiny. By holding a mirror up to empire, Pelumi will examine what America has been and what it can become. The 19th-century doctrine “Manifest Destiny” will take center stage as Pelumi exposes the founding belief for what it really is: language used to justify domestic and foreign violence and oppression. Weaving in his background as an American-Nigerian immigrant, Pelumi will engage with what it means to be American in a nation also founded on the promise of equality, of unalienable rights —life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He will incorporate readings from both Manifest Destiny and his earlier work Poeta: Sonetas and Sonnets.