Courage Sparks Courage
A speech from IMHK's Workers over Billionaires Labor Day Rally and Protest
I’m a priest in the Episcopal Church. But before I became a priest, I was a lawyer. Those two roles are very different, but right now, they make the same demand: defend truth, protect the vulnerable, stand for justice.
We’re not imagining the danger of this moment. Masked men are seizing people off the streets. Immigrants are locked in cages in Florida’s swamps. Troops patrol American cities. Government workers are told to defend lies or lose their jobs. Efforts grow to stack the deck in future elections.
These aren’t rumors. They’re facts. This is authoritarian rule in the making. And it’s happening now.
It’s a scary time. But history should give us courage. Because we’re not the first to face such a time. And in every generation, courage has sparked courage.
Today is Labor Day—a day when we remember those who won with their blood so many of the rights we now take for granted: the 40-hour work week, workplace safety, and an end to child labor.
We gather in a town settled by abolitionists, by people who left everything they knew to defend human freedom and dignity.
We walk in the footsteps of civil rights marchers who faced violence and hatred and still sang of freedom.
We stand as the heirs of generations of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island with nothing but hope, and who built this nation one brick at a time.
The courage of those who came before us is the story of America. Their courage is our inheritance. Protecting their legacy is our responsibility.
But what can you do?
You can do a lot.
You can name the danger. Talk to your friends, your families, your colleagues. Silence feeds fear. But courage sparks courage.
You can act. Act now. Don’t wait for the perfect time. Pressure your representatives. Demand that Congress defend the Constitution. Demand hearings. Demand oversight. Demand that the rule of law be protected.
You can keep showing up to events like this one. You can invite your friends. Crowds matter. And every new face proves that courage sparks courage.
You can be a voice of conscience. Remind the soldiers, police officers, and government employees in your life that they carry both power and responsibility. Remind them that their duty is to the Constitution. Remind them that courage may be required of them too.
This moment isn’t about party politics. This moment is about what it means to be an American.
The Declaration of Independence declares that we are all created equal.
The Constitution calls us to form a more perfect Union, to preserve the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
The Statue of Liberty still lifts her torch proclaiming welcome to the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
In 1862, as the nation was torn apart, Abraham Lincoln said:
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. …
Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We … will be remembered in spite of ourselves. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. …
We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.
Lincoln’s words speak to us again today. The promise of America is under threat once more. But the hope that sustained all those who came before us is still very much alive.
In the days and weeks and months and years to come, may we heed the words of the prophet Micah. May we do justice, may we love mercy, and may we walk humbly. And may we hold on to courage – to a courage that sparks ever greater courage.
Today doesn’t mark the end of our story. Movements grow. Tomorrow we’ll be stronger than today, and the day after, stronger still.
Courage spreads.
Hope multiplies.
Together, let us rise to the occasion.
