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"Our Work is Not Done."

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 permalink

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ACLU of Southern California Executive Director Ramona Ripston delivered the following speech to a capacity crowd at the 2008 Bill of Rights Dinner, held Dec. 8th at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. View photos from the event here.

Hello everyone. Welcome.

We come together at the close of one of the most extraordinary years in U.S. history. A year that many of us fought for but feared that we would never see. When I began working in the civil-rights movement, some people tried to dissuade me because, they said, a woman’s place was in the home. We were not supposed to be leaders in society.

Yet in 2008, a woman was almost nominated for president.

More startling – when I was born, segregation was the rule throughout much of our country. Black Americans were relegated by law to a separate and unequal status, backed up by the billy club, the police dog and the lynch mob. The enforcers of that degraded status did not only have red necks and white hoods, they also donned grey suits and black robes. They did not only lurk in our southern backwaters but held power in our northern metropolises.

Yet in 2008, by a decisive margin, our nation elected its first African American president. In a country founded upon and still struggling with white supremacy, on November 4, Americans of all races, in states north and south, east and west, invested an African American with their trust, their hopes and their dreams. For the first time in our history, the official face of the United States — for us at home and for those around the world — will, shortly, be a face of color. That is a powerful change, and the world is noticing. It will now see us in a different light. Every American, regardless of race, party or ideology, should cherish this breakthrough.

When I spoke to you last year at this dinner, I said that if we elected an African American president, the ACLU -- although strictly nonpartisan -- would have helped make it happen. For 80 years the ACLU has been a vital part of a civil-rights movement dedicated to breaking down racial and other barriers, bridging racial and other divides, and bringing to life the fundamental promises for which our nation stands. The ACLU joined with other groups to challenge racial segregation and to fight for the rights of all Americans, regardless of race, to live where they wish, marry whom they want, vote as they like and learn in schools that are fit for learning. As I suggested last year, the freedoms we all now enjoy were purchased with the sweat and struggle and sacrifice of civil-rights heroes like Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, John Lewis and Jesse Jackson, who is with us here tonight. People who risked or gave their lives for our freedom.

As we reflect upon this moment, we reflect upon another history-making moment when, one August day 45 years ago, I and hundreds of thousands of other Americans gathered on the mall that spans from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol steps to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. give one of the most powerful speeches in this nation’s history. His was a bold act of moral imagination: to envision a future when we would be judged not on the color of our skin but on the content of our character. Dr. King had hope, but no reason to believe that his dream would come true in our lifetime. When we heard him proclaim that vision, we cried, and we cried again 45 years later when part of that future became reality in a way that neither he nor we could have imagined.

On January 20th, when an African American, whose pigment did not blind the nation to his talent and his brilliance, is sworn in as President, that will be a powerful moment, and there is a good chance that many of us will cry again.

Yet we have witnessed powerful moments before: Brown vs. Board of Education outlawed segregation. But our work was not done. Loving vs. Virginia legalized interracial marriage. But our work was not done. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson pushed civil rights bills and voting rights bills through Congress. But our work was not done!

Right now we yearn for a national renewal, and we feel uplifted by a sense of possibility. Hold on to that feeling – nurture it – but don’t assume that we have reached the promised land. This election was Dr. King’s dream furthered but not yet fulfilled. Yes, Martin Luther King would be proud today, but his vision was not of individual accomplishment -- rather it was of collective advancement of societal justice. There are still dreams that we must make come true. We must not only celebrate the dream of January 20th, we must be concerned with the reality of January 21st.

Tonight, in the America that elected Barack Obama, black people are more likely to be stopped, searched and arrested by the police than white people. That will still be true on January 21. Tonight, in the America that elected Barack Obama, black children are more likely to live in poverty than white children. That will still be true on January 21. Tonight, in the America that elected Barack Obama, black people are more likely to have HIV and less likely to have health insurance than white people. That will still be true on January 21. Tonight, in Los Angeles County, which voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, 90,000 homeless people, many of them black, are sleeping on the streets. That will still be true on January 21. Tonight, in California, a state that voted for Barack Obama, only 60 percent of black high-school students will graduate. That will still be true on January 21. And in California, where the voters said that Barack Obama should be president, they also said that gays and lesbians cannot get married. That will still be true on January 21. As long as any of these things is true, our work is not done, our dreams are not fulfilled.

What else will be true on January 21? Will we still throw people into the black hole of indefinite detention without charges, evidence or trial? Will we still spy on Americans without warrants? Will we still kidnap foreign citizens under the meaningless euphemism “extraordinary rendition?” Will we continue to practice torture in violation of international law? As long as any of this is true, our work is not done, our dreams are not fulfilled.

We cannot sit back and expect Barack Obama, or any individual, to fulfill our dreams for us. That is still our responsibility — all of us. We have elected a president, not a magician, not a messiah. No president alone can cure all our ills, heal all our pains or undo generations of injustice. We still have a major role to play. Our new president needs our help. He will have major obstacles to overcome. He will have a Supreme Court unsympathetic to his goals and ours. He will have enormous pressure to make concessions to the right wing, and we will have to pressure him even harder to do the right thing. We’ll support him when he does and we will speak truth to power when he does not!

The struggles for civil rights and civil liberties have never been easy and never will be. And yes, true change does not come from the top down but from the bottom up. History repeatedly has proven this. The abolition movement had to push President Lincoln, the workers rights movement had to push Franklin Roosevelt, the civil-rights movement had to pressure presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Real change comes when energized movements arise and raise the call for justice. We must be that energized movement!

If we are tempted to become complacent, remember that the Prop. 8 vote happened in the most progressive state in the nation on the most progressive of election days. We must continue to fight the Prop. 8 battle just as we must continue to fight for freedom of speech, educational opportunity and economic justice.

We must continue to work and litigate and legislate, to organize and mobilize, to make sure that all the dreams we have for a better country, for a fairer country, for a more equal country, for a more just country, come true. We can make our country the nation we all want and all deserve. If this goal seems too difficult, remember the lesson that Dr. King’s speech 45 years ago, and that the election one month ago, teaches us -- to do big things we must first dream big things. With your help I know we can. Yes we can! And yes we will!

Thank you all.


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