Holding Hands, Holding Hope: Reflections from the Ellipse

I recently took a brief break from Deep Learning Daily to visit Washington, DC, for an event at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. While in town, I had the chance to attend a rally with Kamala Harris on the Ellipse.

It was powerful to be part of such a diverse crowd, all standing together with a shared hope for unity—a vision of bringing this nation together, rather than giving in to messages of division.

One moment from the rally was particularly memorable. The lines were unusually long, with far more people showing up than anticipated. After three hours of waiting, the crowd grew tightly packed as the line wound its way toward the entrance.

I had met many people along the way—first on the Metro, then while standing in line. At one point, a new “line buddy,” a woman from Pakistan, took my hand to ensure I wasn’t lost in the crowd. I then held the hand of an African American gentleman who had been waiting with us, and he took the hand of a Latino woman who’d been chatting with us for hours. The four of us stayed connected, moving together through the packed space, making sure no one got separated.

It brought Kamala Harris' words to life when she said in her speech: "Stop pointing fingers and start holding arms." We were living her message in real time—naturally and instinctively.

This is about appreciating one another as Americans, united by shared values, not divided by the color of our skin. We are a nation of immigrants; when did we forget that? Unless you’re Native American, none of us are originally from here—we’re all part of an immigrant legacy.

I know a lot of my readers are outside the United States, but what happens here in this country impacts the entire world. I wanted to share a message of unity and a message of hope. I sang the national anthem underneath the Washington Monument last night. It was a moment so beautiful it almost brought me to tears. We should be proud of this country and not knocking it down with hateful rhetoric.

Since this is, after all, an AI newsletter, I’ll leave you with a link to something I wrote on my Substack a few weeks ago: a thought experiment exploring what happens when conspiracy theories and AI collide in a divided nation.