“Five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation…But 100 years later the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land.”
These are the words delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the March on Washington. A day in which Americans were encouraged “to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. “A day in which we were warned the most dangerous thing in America isn’t racial and economic divide…it’s silence.
This year, America will celebrate her 250th birthday. A birthday marred by history, that by today’s standards, attempts to continuously be re-written. A history where women, immigrants and people of color are challenged daily with a certain sector of society not acknowledging their contributions to the making of this country. Yet, that freedom and justice seem to not be applicable to “just us,” but those individuals who are entitled and privileged by birthright.
2026 marks another very important birthdate: The 10th anniversary of Ava DuVernay’s groundbreaking documentary “13th,” which examines the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States. DuVernay’s film operates with a clear viewpoint: The American criminal justice system is deeply rooted in systemic racism and that mass incarceration is a modern evolution of slavery. Not your historical chattel slavery, but a type of slavery which captures the mind, body and spirit to the point of paralyzing. Both birthdates coincide as the United States Supreme Court has slowly eroded, destroyed and ignored the U.S. Constitution for the purposes of power and greed for the elite. The same constitution that envelopes the 13th Amendment.
DuVernay’s “13th” tried to warn us about the impending possibilities of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 being rolled backwards: An act that had officially dismantled systemic segregation and outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public accommodations, employment, and federally funded programs.
Presently, instead of celebrating the liberties citizens marched, died and were slain for, Americans are currently experiencing a twilight zone of social and political revolution, where overzealous policing of education and birthright citizenship are being weaponized against people of color, women and the LGBTQ+ communities. As recently as May 2026, executive orders terminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, offices and funding across the federal government and federal contracting workforce have been signed by the Trump administration.
In addition, key rollbacks have included reversing a previous executive order on policing reforms (which banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants), eliminating a directive ensuring that Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms are deployed in a non-discriminatory manner, and undoing a voting rights directive that helped federal agencies facilitate voter registration. The latter hits at the same registration process being challenged with gerrymandering of maps to suppress votes nationwide.
In many ways, “13th” couldn’t be timelier. As we approach the midterms, per the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, candidates have been speaking of reverse discrimination, pushing for criminal justice reform and increasing the prison population with immigrants pending deportation, particularly those accused of violent crimes.
The freedom and justice outlined in the landmark “I Have a Dream” speech, so beautifully and memorably orated by the Reverend Dr. King, contains a message that has come back to haunt this generation. A speech crafted by the baddest speechwriter of all–Clarence B. Jones. Jones (who recently passed at the age of 95) lived long enough to witness the hopes he and Dr. King longed for caught in the grips of a vengeful racial and economic divide.
With the recent passing of Mr. Jones, one can’t help but recall the reflecting pool with hundreds of people from every race, creed and color standing within the warm arms of a vocal hug that rang out with excitement, vigor and a desire that our country had finally sewn up the great divide of humanity. A reflecting pool that, after undergoing a needless renovation by Trump, no longer serves as a mirror of humanity and common decency, but a watery grave eerily reminiscent of the oceans that claimed millions of our ancestors.
When one combines the words of the Baddest Speechwriter of All, Clarence B. Jones, with the work of Ava DuVernay—who’s among our bravest filmmakers—with the specter of America’s 250th birthday, if for nothing else, we’re reminded that America and the rights of all Americans are always worth fighting for despite the hefty price tag. So, until that day, Black people will continue to honor and celebrate our legacy on Juneteenth while praying for clearer skies ahead.
With that in mind, it’s worth returning to Jones’ words, spoken by Reverend Dr. King: “However, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last.”
