Pastor’s note: We run the risk in our imperiled time of forgetting the struggles in earlier times. We remember easier days and in our memories we create a “good old days.” Most of us know then wasn’t perfect either, but in comparison, “my Lord, it was so much better, easier than now.” That’s true.
But it’s also true that the fight for American democracy has been ongoing from the beginning Obviously – in light of the Independence Mall removal of the stories of the people who were enslaved in the first President’s home in Philadelphia, from its earliest days, the idea of American democracy has been disputed and contested. Though the founders wanted to experiment with a democratic system in their new country, they were also deeply wary of ceding too much power to the people.
American history has repeatedly had to deal with attempts to deny people their rights, liberty, power, due. One can tell the often violent contest for American democracy in ways that our current Administration would call “disparaging” and try to outlaw (the telling of the truth). A more perfect union might have been the stated goal in the Preamble to the Constitution, but it’s turned out more elusive, even aspirational… or at least pretty bumpy and repeatedly bloody.
From just after the end of the Revolutionary War through the tumultuous debates over slavery that led to the Civil War… Through recurring cycles of civil rights progress — for immigrants, labor, women, queer folk — and then reactionary backlash and sometimes loss of the hard-won progress, right down to the Capitol Riots in 2021 and beyond. …Even in the first year of Trump’s second term where so many of the Administration’s actions are designed to intimidate and silence opposition in his pursuit to expand his power.
With such a constant deluge of attacks on our rights — and on our communities — it can feel difficult to stay hopeful and engaged. But our American history shows that when people organize, protest, and demand justice, we can disrupt abuses of power, and build broad-based collective power in response.
I receive an ACLU newsletter that has a recurring series “Your Questions Answered on How to Push Back on Abuses of Power.” The piece below was written by Attiya Latif, the national ACLU’s senior digital organizer in response to the question: “What gives the ACLU hope in this moment — hope that we can defend our neighbors, communities, and the future of democracy?”
