Get off the sidewalk

Gird your loins (or other body parts), friends and comrades. What is called for now is courage, persistence, and an unshakable belief in justice. This we share with our fighting foremothers and forefathers. They waged battles that seemed impossible, yet they pressed on. And won.

Our history is rich with examples of those who swam against the tide, a tide that was sometimes a tsunami. And they did not drown. They fought against slavery, for women’s enfranchisement, against war, for the rights of workers, against corporate greed, for environmental protections—the list, if not endless, is significant and impressive. And we are its beneficiaries.

I would like us to listen to those who devoted their time, their energy, their lives to so many righteous causes. We need to hear what they had to say. We stand on their shoulders. We honor them by our actions today.

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” Frederick Douglas

"The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." Ida B. Wells

“While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." Eugene V. Debs

"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept." Angela Davis

“You are never too small to make a difference.” Greta Thunberg

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Hope will never be silent." Harvey Milk

“Failure is impossible.” Susan B. Anthony

“I'm not a humanitarian, I'm a hell-raiser.” Mary Harris (Mother) Jones 

 "Walk the street with us into history. Get off the sidewalk." Dolores Huerta

“Your silence will not protect you.” Audre Lorde