Sit Down. We Need To Talk.

Grab a chair. Normally, we would offer you a cup of coffee or something, but we need you to pay attention to what we’re about to tell you. What is happening all across the United States is not acceptable. This is not the way we were raised. This is not what the framers of the Constitution envisioned. This is not the America that your grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought to protect. If we do not take action now, we are letting them as well as future generations down. We are the disappointment.

In the future, no one is going to look at the people who are alive now and ask, “Were they republicans or democrats?” It won’t matter. They’ll only ask, “Why didn’t they do anything to stop what happened?” That’s all that matters now. Political parties are useless against a megalomaniac hell bent on ruling the entire fucking world. If we do not stand up to him now, we won’t be able to stand up to him later.

We’re rapidly coming up on a time in history that your parents and grandparents promised would never happen again. We were raised to understand the fallacies of fascism, the idolatry of hate, and the emptiness of stolen power. We went to church and sang together, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they’re all precious in his sight…” We were taught that everyone is deserving of freedom, that everyone is valuable, and that everyone has a right to be heard.

Many of you are preparing special events around this weekend, celebrating the resurrection of one who was wrongly imprisoned, treated cruelly, and eventually murdered because a handful of narcissistic sons of bitches wanted to show off their power. You stand there and pretend that you would never have let history play out the way it did. You say that you would have done something. Now that the time has come when there’s something to be done, how are you responding?

It’s one thing to express anger and disappointment online and in social media. The threat level of the internet is small. Saying something out loud, going places, and participating in activities that the government doesn’t want, is quite another matter.

Fellow Americans, fellow humans! Look around you – here in Indianapolis, across Indiana, all across this nation – people are feeling something stir, and it’s not just the pollen. We’re living through times that test us, times that ask us fundamental questions about who we are and what we stand for. We see the headlines, we have the conversations at our kitchen tables, we feel the weight of the moment. And maybe, just maybe, we feel a little uncertain about the path forward, a little worried that our voices aren’t being heard clearly enough.

There comes a time when sitting back isn’t enough. There comes a time when memes aren’t enough. There comes a time when the quiet murmur of concern needs to become a clear, resonant voice. There comes a time when we, the people, need to remember the power we hold not just individually, but together.

This Saturday, April 19th, is such a time. It’s a day for us to step out from our homes, away from our screens, and stand side-by-side. This isn’t about left versus right, or one party against another. This is bigger than that. This is about reaffirming our commitment to the core principles that bind us – fairness, justice, accountability, and the simple, powerful idea that every voice matters.

Some will ask, “What difference can one day make?” But think about it – history doesn’t turn on single days, but it is marked by them. It’s marked by moments when ordinary people decide to show up, to stand tall, and to speak with a unified voice for the future they believe in. It’s about showing our leaders, our neighbors, and ourselves that we are engaged, that we are watching, and that we care deeply about the direction of our communities and our country.

Let this Saturday be a day of peaceful, powerful expression. Let it be a day where we listen to each other, even when we disagree, but stand united in our demand to be heard. Let’s fill our public spaces not just with our presence, but with our hope for a better path forward, with our belief in the power of engaged citizens, with our commitment to shaping a future worthy of the generations to come.

Don’t let this moment pass quietly. Don’t assume someone else will speak for you. This Saturday, April 19th, find a peaceful gathering, or organize one. Bring your voice, bring your hope, bring your belief in what we can achieve together. Let’s stand as one, not in anger necessarily, but in profound commitment to the idea of “We, the People.” Let’s make our presence felt. Let’s make our voices count.