Becoming the Vision: The Oath with Don Chen

February 7, 2025

The follow is an excerpt from Freedom Dreams in Philanthropy’s Becoming The Vision podcast where hosts Dr. Chera Reid, Efraín Gutiérrez, and Dr. Trinel Torian talk with those who “embrace the tradition of freedom dreaming in service to racial justice and collective liberation.” Each episode is an exploration of praxis–dreaming big, taking bold action, and becoming the vision.

In this episode, Don Chen, president of the Surdna Foundation frames commitment to racial and social justice as an “oath”— a long-term pledge to stay grounded in vision, focused on root causes, and sustain a shared identity and purpose despite our differences and disagreements. Don shares how this oath guides his leadership at Surdna, and we acknowledge the personal qualities and competencies that support it.

What’s a word you’re meditating on these days?

Don Chen: Well, I appreciate the question, and as a fan of the podcast I thought about this a little bit before today and I’ve decided to focus on and to meditate on the word “oath.” And the reason— it’s multiple reasons why—of course, today, we’re recording right before the election, 2024. I’m thinking about what will happen in January when we hear the oath of office. I’m also thinking about Surdna’s long-term commitment and, for those of us who work here, our personal long-term commitment to our mission which is to advance racial Justice in the U.S.—that’s the shorthand that we use when we’re not reading off our website—and finally in times like this, candidly, it’s been pretty stressful this year. I’ve been trying to read poetry, lately reading Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America be America Again,” and in the second to last verse he says:

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

And every time I read that I think to myself that is the most patriotic thing I’ve ever heard. To say that America never quite lived up to its idea for Black Americans, for many people in the United States, “and yet I swear this oath America will be,” it’s so patriotic, it’s so optimistic about the promise of what this country could be. So, to me, that’s how I choose to be and that’s how I’m meditating right now.

Listen to the full episode.

 

Episode 06: "The Oath" with Don Chen, president of the Surdna Foundation. Becoming the Vision podcast.