Fifty-eight years after Rosa Parks, tired after a long day’s work, decided she had had enough of people trampling on her rights and refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, we in America find our rights once again being trampled upon.
Despite the fact that we are treated like second-class citizens with no rights to speak of—not to speech, property, assembly, due process, redress or representative government—in a police state that shows little regard for our life, liberty or our pursuit of happiness, the majority of Americans are disconcertingly silent about the abuses being meted out on them and reticent to challenge the status quo.
Clearly, we have a right to dissent, protest and even vigorously criticize or oppose the government and its laws. The U.S. Constitution, which came on the heels of the American Revolution, guarantees us these rights and more. Thus, the real question is why there is not more dissent and protest, especially in a day and age when the Bill of Rights is under constant attack.
The silence is due to a number of things, including a national amnesia brought on by the media and entertainment spectacles, political distractions and ignorance, a sense of pessimism and hopelessness, and a sense of powerlessness in the face of a mammoth, militarized government machine. Yet as Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel noted, “There may be a time when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
Rosa Parks was not the first to take a stand, nor was she the last, but she was an important part of the process of bringing about change. “You’re either part of the solution,” wrote the 1960s African-American activist Eldridge Cleaver, “or you’re part of the problem.”
It’s time for Americans to stop being part of the problem and start speaking truth to power—even if it means defying unjust laws and committing civil disobedience—because only by saying “enough is enough” can we bring about needed change.
It’s definitely time to start a resistance movement.
Please take a moment to stand with The Rutherford Institute in our ongoing efforts to push back against the growing menace of the American police state. You can start by making a tax-deductible donation here, online at www.rutherford.org or over the phone at 1-800-225-1791.
From the front lines of the fight for freedom, I remain,
John W. Whitehead
P.S. All of our so-called blessings will amount to little more than gilding on a cage if we don’t safeguard the freedoms on which this nation was founded. Please do what you can to stand with The Rutherford Institute in this ever-critical fight for freedom by making a tax-deductible year-end donation today.