As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Community Coalition (CoCo) and Sankofa.org are inviting the public to reconsider one of the nation’s most enduring questions: Who gets to tell the story of America?
Through a groundbreaking new exhibition at LADC Studios, WE THE PEOPLE centers the voices, stories, and creative expressions of Black, Indigenous, Brown, immigrant, LGBTQ+, femme, and historically marginalized communities—not as footnotes in America’s history, but as authors of its past, present, and future.
While many commemorations during the nation’s semi-quincentennial will celebrate narratives of American exceptionalism, this exhibition offers a deeper and more honest examination of America’s past, present, and future. Part exhibition, part cultural intervention, and part people’s storytelling project, WE THE PEOPLE opens Thursday, July 2nd and runs through Sunday, July 19th. The project emerges at a pivotal moment in our American history.
“Too often, our nation’s history is told through the lens of perceived power, leaving out the communities whose labor, resistance, creativity, and sacrifice built this country,” said Gerri Lawrence, exhibition producer for CoCo. WE THE PEOPLE challenges that mainstream narrative and counters erasure by centering the voices and experiences of those who too often have been violently silenced.”
Rooted in the lived realities and leadership of everyday people, the exhibition explores the intersections of history, identity, memory, resistance, and belonging. Through immersive storytelling, participatory art installations, community-generated narratives, and cultural expression, visitors will be invited to engage with both the painful truths and transformative possibilities of the American experience.
“As a storyteller and an advocate, I want people to walk through this exhibition and see themselves, their ancestors and their future children. I want them to see the stories we’ve carried, the struggles we’ve survived, and the joy we’ve created despite it all. WE THE PEOPLE is special because it reminds us that history isn’t just something that happened to us—it’s something we’ve shaped and continue to shape every day,” Gina Belafonte, Executive Director of Sankofa.org which is co-producing the exhibit.
The exhibition confronts the legacies of genocide, enslavement, land theft, state violence, and neocolonialism while simultaneously celebrating the movements, cultures, and communities that have continuously fought to transform the nation. It amplifies not only struggle, but also futurism, joy, beauty, resilience, and collective power.
Drawing from traditions of community storytelling and artistic activism, WE THE PEOPLE expands the definition of what it means to be American and invites visitors to see democracy as an unfinished project—which is continuously shaped by those courageous enough to show up and demand change. South Los Angeles serves as both the geographic home and symbolic heart of the exhibition: a place where the realities of systemic injustice meet generations of organizing, cultural innovation, joy, hope and community-led transformation.
At its core, WE THE PEOPLE is an invitation to remember the legacies that mainstream America has tried to bury, an opportunity to resurrect the stories of those who have been erased as we imagine a more just and inclusive future. WE THE PEOPLE calls visitors into a deeper truth—that WE are the storytellers, WE are the architects and WE ARE THE PEOPLE that make America great.
WE THE PEOPLE will be on view from July 2 through July 19, 2026, at LADC Studios, located at 5955 S. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90047.