E pluribus unum. Take a look at any American coin in your pocket. This phrase means, out of many, one. Many states, many peoples, many nationalities, many religions, many languages, and many colors of skin. Tracing a continuous line from today to the origins of the United States of America this motto endures even as we still struggle to comfortably embody its lofty ideal. Celebrating the double semiquincentennial years of 1775-1776 is exactly the right time to rediscover our complex selves and collective history.
The evening of Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, I drove south on Interstate 91 to attend a lovely and engagingly structured Racial Equity Mixer convened by the grassroots organization Anti-Racism Community Organizers, or ARCO. What a wonderful and warm group of people. The event took place at the De La Luz (of the light) Performing Arts Center on Race Street near the historic canals of Holyoke in Hampden County. This is a fantastic arts venue associated with LightHouse Holyoke, an accredited alternative school for grades 6-12 that operates a range of programs including the De La Luz Technical Arts Institute.
Anti-Racism Community Organizers, or ARCO, arcowesternmass.org, previously known
as UROC of Western Mass or, the Undoing Racism Organizing Collective, has been serving western Massachusetts since 1995. New name, same mission, same community need. An impressive attribute of the group is its multi-generational leadership. And the age range of attendees seemed to be teens to seniors. One of the main facilitators was recruited to the group by their daughter. Another person, actually more than one, came of age volunteering and participating alongside a parent.
For me, anti-racism is personal. I’m white with family lineages from northern European regions that include England, France, Scotland, Germany, and Norway. Generations of my English maternal forebears rest at Island Pond Cemetery in Ludlow. Like my mother I attended public schools in Springfield. I-91 was built in view of our family home. The nearby Connecticut River was a prominent feature in my childhood landscape. My neighbors and classmates in the 1960s and 70s were French-Canadian, Puerto Rican, Greek, Black, Italian, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and more. Every morning at Lincoln Elementary School above the landing of the central staircase I saw the larger than life-sized, seated full portrait of President Lincoln and the words “Of the People, By the People, For the People.”
The experience of getting along with people different from me was helpful when I relocated to Franklin County first to work in the 1990s and then to live since 2001. For a decade prior to moving here I lived and worked close to the southern end of the Quabbin Reservoir in the Hampshire County towns of Belchertown and Ware. Even though raised primarily in an urban environment — just 45 minutes south of Greenfield by car — the cycles of the seasons have continuously connected me to my neighbors in various places and to childhood memories of snowbanks, autumn leaves, summer rainstorms, and the lengthening days of springtime.
Just an hour and a half east of Greenfield by car, the Revolutionary War erupted in 1775. People of every gender, religion, class, age, nationality, and color joined together to eventually prevail as the independent United States of America. In 1776 the Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a Great Seal for our new nation. According to legalclarity.org, when the war was finally ending eight years later, e pluribus unum was agreed to as the motto for the seal. Out of many, one. This is a characteristic that makes America unique. Let’s take some time to revisit and reconnect to our own complicated history. You may find it full of surprises; elements overlooked whether intentionally or unintentionally.
ARCO is holding its signature 2 ½-day training Undoing Racism in May 2026. You can find out more on their website. There is a fee to attend, though it was emphasized that ARCO will work to eliminate cost as a barrier. Consider volunteering, for example. Continuing education credits and scholarships are available. One passionate person of color I met at the recent mixer repeated the training a total of four times, extolling its quality of content. In a place where Different is Good resounds on one of our popular radio stations, I am hopeful that many might travel downstream a short distance to help mend the tapestry of community that some are working relentlessly to unravel.
Leigh Youngblood lives in Warwick.