There Is Injustice In America

(The following remarks were delivered by Bill Freeman at a progressive political rally called "Jam For Democracy" on Sunday, July 31, 2011, at the Orbit Room in Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” There is injustice in America. When the governor and the legislature give 1.7 billion dollars in tax cuts to the wealthy and the well off, at the expense of the poor and the middle class and retired people: There is injustice in America. When the governor appoints an Emergency Financial Manager to replace the elected leaders of Benton Harbor: There is injustice in America. When the Holland City Council refuses to pass a gay rights ordinance: There is injustice in America.

Good evening, I’m Bill Freeman, Chaplain of Interfaith Congregation in Holland. About a year ago I asked the Holland City Council to pass a gay rights ordinance. I can’t understand why they won’t. How many people have been to the Holland Tulip Parade? For those who haven’t, it’s a wonderful parade. People dress in strange costumes; women dress as men; women dance with women, women dressed as men dance with women. It is the gayest parade this side of San Francisco. So I don’t understand why Holland won’t pass a gay rights ordinance.

We need to take America back! Now I don’t mean that the way some people do. They want to take America back to the 1950s, before blacks had Civil Rights. They want to take America back to the early 1900s, before women had much of a voice in politics. They want to take America back to the 1800s, before there were child labor laws. That’s not what I mean when I say we need to take America back. We need to take America back from Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly! We need to take America back from Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter and Michele Bachmann! We need to take America back from Glenn Beck and the Tea Party and the Fox News Channel!

We can never again be led by people who are ignorant and incompetent! And yes, I’m talking about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney! We can never again be led by people who are ignorant and incompetent! And yes, I’m talking about Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor and John Boner – I mean Boehner! We can never again be led by people who are ignorant and incompetent! And yes, I’m talking about Justin Amash and Bill Huizinga and Rick Snyder!

We need to be led by people who know that the wealthy and the well-off have to pay their fair share of taxes! We need to be led by people who know that Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are necessities not luxuries! We need to be led by people who know that our future depends on public schools and public school teachers! We need to be led by people who know that unions got us the 40-hour work-week and weekends off! We need to be led by people who know that government is not the problem; government is “We The People”!

“This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters, this land was made for you and me.” This land was made for you and me. This land was made for black people and white people and Hispanic people and Asian people and Native American people. This land was made for Christians and Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims and atheists. This land was made for people who were born in Hawaii and people who were born in Kenya and people who were born in Mexico. And if people don’t understand that, then let’s take the plaque off the Stature of Liberty, the plaque that says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;” and let’s send the Statue of Liberty back to France and say, “Sorry, we can’t live up to this anymore.”

Now, I want to address my remarks to those people who are here to spy on us for the wealthy and the well-off. You know they’re here, you know they’re here. They’re the ones who are squirming right about now. Listen to me, go back and tell your bosses that we are real people. We’re not people who were paid to be here by the Kock brothers or the Heritage Foundation or the Fox News Channel. We are not Tea Party people! We are real people! We are people who have finally said to ourselves, “Wake up and smell the coffee – and not the tea.” We have finally realized that we’re getting screwed by the wealthy and the well off in this country and we’re not going to take it anymore.

So what can you do about all this? After all, you’re just one person. So what can you do? You can speak up! You can speak up on behalf of the poor and the middle class and the elderly! You can speak up on behalf of public schools and public school teachers! You can speak up on behalf of people who happen to be lesbian and gay and bisexual and transgender! Also, you can sign recall petitions, to get rid of politicians who are ignorant and incompetent. And you can vote! The wealthy and the well off hate it when you vote! Because when you vote, you’re on the same level that they are. They have one vote. And you have one vote. But there are a whole lot more of us than there are of them. So please vote.

President Kennedy said, in his Inaugural Address, “Let us go forth to lead the land we love; asking [God’s] blessing and [God’s] help, but knowing that here on earth, [God’s] work must truly be our own.” Ladies and gentlemen, let us go forth to lead the land we love; asking God’s blessing and God’s help, but knowing that here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.

Thank you and God bless you and Yahweh bless you and Allah bless you and Dios bless you and the universe bless you.