Keeping the Dream Alive

This week I realized how this election is about so much more than just re-electing a president we admire and support. It’s about our core values – values of civil rights, women’s rights, voting rights, and the right of all people to have the opportunity to achieve their potential.

These rights are under attack from a Republican Party that has been taken over by a hostile and extremist element. As a woman, I feel this struggle, fighting once again the same fight for women’s rights that we have fought before.

Months ago we decided that the ongoing struggle for civil rights would be the theme of our annual . This theme resonated with people, and attendance doubled from previous years.

We arranged for two powerful speakers both of whom brought the sold-out crowd to their feet. Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, Georgia, and Nadine Smith of Equality Florida both spoke of the hard work that has already been done, of the victories, and the need to carry the fight for civil rights forward into the future. “Equal opportunity, not equal outcomes – that is a core Democratic value,” said Mayor Reed.

As I closed the program, I quoted the famous words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: “…I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

This election is about keeping that dream alive – the dream that all are created equal, with equal rights, civil rights, women’s rights, the right to vote, and an equal opportunity to succeed. And that is why this election is so important.

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