The following piece was written by asha bandele of the Drug Policy Alliance and shared with her permission.
In May of 1857, having just heard of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case (for those of us thinking of Travyon Martin today, ironically it was filed as Dred Scott v Sandford), which in effect validated the existence of slavery and seemed to ensure its continuance, the great abolitionist, orator and ex-slave, Frederick Douglass, said:
In one view the slaveholders have a decided advantage over all opposition. It is well to notice this advantage…(but) This is one view….there is another, and a brighter view. David, you know, looked small and insignificant when going to meet Goliath, but looked larger when he had slain his foe….Thus hath it ever been. Oppression, organized as ours is, will appear invincible up to the very hour of its fall….Take this fact—for it is a fact—the anti-slavery movement has, from first to last, suffered no abatement. It has gone forth in all directions, and is now felt in the remotest extremities of the Republic.
It started small, and was without capital either in men or money. The odds were all against it. It literally had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. There was ignorance to be enlightened, error to be combated, conscience to be awakened, prejudice to be overcome, apathy to be aroused, the right of speech to be secured, mob violence to be subdued, and a deep, radical change to be inwrought in the mind and heart of the whole nation. This great work, under God, has gone on, and gone on gloriously…Our strength is in the growth of [our] conviction, and this has never halted.
In less than six years after he made that statement, of course, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
And so as the progeny of people who traversed mountains higher and more rocky than ours, and with far fewer resources, did, we continue. And we do it with all the care, compassion and strategic brilliance that has defined us every day leading up to this day. We do it as allies, we do it as colleagues, we do it as organizers and friends. We do it as partners in this work.
The horrific decisions out of Ferguson and now, New York, have this moment. We acknowledge that. But knitting ourselves together I know this: we will write the final and beautiful chapter in history.
With a powerful belief in justice and in each of you,
asha bandele
Director, Advocacy Grants Program
Drug Policy Alliance