- That’s why they came out, for the future. The immigrants who risked death and incarceration to come to our country and work their hands to the bone to put food on the table for their children and for us. The women who want a future where they have control over who they have sex with and whether they are forced to have children or not, where they can work a job without harassment, earning equal pay for their time and not be judged for how they look but for their talent and character. That’s why the black kids walked, so they don’t have to fear being shot or be accused of being drug dealers when white people deal and use drugs at same rate. For a future where their schools and neighborhoods get equal funding and they get an even shot at a job and an even shot at a vote. The Muslims who came here as slaves and are still not citizens enough and the ones that came here after wars our country caused, somehow have to answer for every terrorist attacks while we can feign ignorance at the carnage we wrecked across the world. It’s why Asians walked so they don’t have to be a model minority but be treated as equal Americans, not be assumed they came from somewhere and have allegiance to some other place. It’s why the Jews walked so that they wouldn’t have to be lumped in with bankers and a future where being a Jew and a banker isn’t any different than being a Catholic and a banker. A time when the biggest love and insecurity of Jewish people: Israel wouldn’t be used as an election tactic to cause people to turn on another.
- A future where we wouldn’t be labeled as evil for having liberal or conservative views but be judged for the fact that we have views because we all want the best for our country. We walked against one man, who poisoned us for two long years by casting doubt on democracy, on a government that is one of the best in the world, on a press system that is our ears and mouths, attacking journalists who risk their lives in wars and uncover corruption and theft. This man, the one who scoffed at people who dedicate their lives to public service, at veterans who never gave out secrets while in prison to save lives, who boasted getting a purple heart of a person who gave his life for this country, this country that we all love. That’s what we protested. The man and people who chose lies in order to split us into liberal and conservative when we are all Americans. When we are all good people who are more than our past, more than our skin, more than our gender, more than our sexual orientation.
- We are human beings who feel love for one another and the place we call home. We work hard and we have dreams, regardless of whether we have two legs and two arms or a wheelchair and mind that can take us to the stars and back. We, the rainbow we, make this country great, make this country a little more perfect. We, the taco trucks and the Bangkok noodle and the Kentucky fried chicken and the hot dog on a hot day at a football game tailgate. We cry and we laugh together. We saw 9/11 together and we poured our hearts out to the victims of Katrina together. We didn’t donate to red or blue houses, or black or white businesses. We gave. Because that’s who we are. We do not fear each-other, whether we are 60% white or 40% white, we are 100% American because to be American is not to be atheist or believing in God, or black or Latino or white, it is to believe in freedom, respect and choice.
- It is the belief that we are all united, that we are in this together and that individually we can do anything and that together we can overcome everything. That is what this man attacked, that is what his double speak of Great America destroyed for two long years as we watched the worst reality show yet. That is why we walk in our all our colors, ages, sexes, genders and anything else that might separate us, making it all irrelevant. That is what he attacked and that is what we protested and that is what we showed him and the world that we will not give it up, that we will not give up on each other and on the idea of one country, one people.
- Because our future and our dignity is worth it, and we won’t let some opportunistic chauvinist take either one from us. Not without a fight.
not-rushin 