BLACK OUT: A Conversation on Systemic Racism With Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright

BLACK OUT: A Conversation on Systemic Racism With Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright

This is Truth and Reckoning, a newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. In this episode, we speak with Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright Anthony is a son of Sierra Leone, an international climate and environmental liberation advocate, a racial justice practitioner, a writer and a policy expert residing in the United States with his family and their cats, “Evil” Ernie and MalaChai the Mischievous. He is a proud and active member of the Black Alliance for Peace and the North South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights. His radio program, “Full Spectrum with Anthony Rogers-Wright,” airs on the Mighty WPFW network [https://wpfwfm.org/radio/index.php] every Tuesday at 6:00 PM EST. On the day that we had a chance to sit down with Anthony, he was at an international conference focused on stopping global fossil fuel use in Colombia, a nation where 30% of the population is of African descent, and, as he explains during this conversation, the voices of black people were being silenced. That sad truth of racism in Columbia is historically linked to racism in the United States, and this conversation focuses on the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, Reconstruction, the non-profit industrial complex, and pro sports as it effects, impacts, relates to, and ultimately shapes life for black people, the society at large, and the questions of whether we can fully reconcile with the institution of slavery and the ongoing colonization of people and planet. CELDF’s Executive Director Kai Huschke and Anthony delve into personal experiences relating to the Declaration of Independence, the constructs keeping racism alive in the US, the social dynamics and racism, and the bright spots that emerging in breaking the structure of racism in what many would find to be unlikely places. This interview is the second installment on systemic racism and sexism as part of CELDF’s America 250: A Revolutionary Perspective. It follows the live discussion with Colville Confederated Tribes descent Dina Gilio-Whitaker and Kānaka Maoli Anne Keala Kelly entitled “What Revolution? Systemic Racism, Sexism, and Genocide from America’s Beginning [https://celdf.substack.com/p/what-revolution-systemic-racism-sexism].” Anthony’s insights echo the need for structural transformation rooted in history, truth, and collective courage. Get ready to confront the lies, embrace the struggle, and harness the power of collective disobedience to forge a new path toward justice. Links and Resources * Anthony’s radio show on the WPFW network [https://wpfwfm.org/radio/index.php] * Anthony’s articles on Black Agenda Report [https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/Anthony%20Karefa%20Rogers-Wright] * Big Green + Big Tech = Bigger Environmental Racism: How Certain “Environmental” Groups are Selling out Frontline Communities by Greenwashing Data Centers [https://substack.com/home/post/p-192218787] About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert. You can find the show on: * Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/truth-and-reckoning/id1811198548] * Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2PRYRNfxL9fQfcxJiBhPGP] * Pocketcasts [https://play.pocketcasts.com/discover/podcast/a81746b0-0693-013e-3186-0affd846786d] * YouTube (video [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCELDF/videos] and audio [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLes1m5r1R-ZFDLDfuA5Li17oLfUZoJVa3]) * And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app [https://episodes.fm/1811198548]) About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund CELDF [https://celdf.org] is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power. Get full access to Truth and Reckoning at celdf.substack.com/subscribe [https://celdf.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

"What Revolution? Systemic Racism, Sexism, and Genocide from America's Beginning"

This is Truth and Reckoning, a newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. As the Federal government celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, nationalistic propaganda based in American exceptionalism and lies about the real history of the USA are proliferating. Did you know that the Declaration of Independence argued that secession was justified on the basis that the British had “endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions”? Or that the Union’s first president, George Washington, was given the name ‘Town Destroyer’ by members of the Iroquois confederacy? This conversation between Anne Keala Kelly (Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiian) / Irish), Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes descendant), CELDF’s Education Director Ben Price, and CELDF’s Community Resistance and Resilience Program Director Max Wilbert discusses the the real founding of the United States and the colonial violence that hidden behind rhetoric of “freedom” and ideas such as “all men are created equal.” We discuss: * The roots of systemic racism, colonialism, and genocide in US culture * The Doctrine of Discovery as founding myth and animating force for the ongoing colonial process * Racial and patriarchal hierarchies as pillars of US government and society * Strategies for resistance, decolonization, and spiritual renewal Here’s a clip from the discussion: About Our Speakers Anne Keala Kelly (Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiian) / Irish) is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, writer, editor, podcaster, and activist whose work analyzes and advances Indigenous peoples’ rights, cultural, environmental, and political resistance and representation in media. Her print journalism and commentary have appeared in Indian Country Today Media Network, The Nation, Honolulu Weekly, YES! Magazine, Native Americas, Honolulu Civil Beat and other publications. And her essays can be found in cultural and academic journals, such as ʻŌiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal, and American Indian Quarterly. Her broadcast reporting has aired on Al Jazeera English, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the Pacifica Network’s Free Speech Radio News, Independent Native News, and more. Keala has produced and hosted her own podcast and Substack column (The Native Truth), was a regular contributor and occasional host on the internationally syndicated First Voices Radio show, and most recently had the honor to edit the catalog for Wasco / Yakama artist Lillian Pitt’s upcoming exhibition at The Museum At Warm Springs. Keala is the author of the short book, “Our Rights to Self-Determination: A Hawaiian Manifesto” (2022). Her documentary, “Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai’i,” has received international film festival awards, and is widely taught in courses focusing on Indigenous Peoples, colonization, Hawaiian sovereignty, and militarism. * Keala’s website [https://annekealakelly.com/] * The Native Truth [https://kealakelly1.substack.com/]Substack * Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai’i [https://nohohewa.com/] * “Our Rights to Self-Determination: a Hawaiian Manifesto [https://annekealakelly.com/]” Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes descendant) is a renowned scholar, educator, journalist [https://dinagwhitaker.wordpress.com/], and author in American Indian studies. She co-authored along with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz the popular book “All the Real Indians Died Off” and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans [http://www.beacon.org/All-the-Real-Indians-Died-Off-P1224.aspx] http://www.beacon.org/All-the-Real-Indians-Died-Off-P1224.aspx(Beacon Press, 2016), and is Assistant Director of the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center at California State University San Marcos. As the former Policy Director and Senior Research Associate at the Center for World Indigenous Studies [https://www.cwis.org/], Dina has worked with Indigenous governments in the U.S. and beyond for many years helping them to formulate policy strategies and work cooperatively with federal and state governments and in other collaborative organizational partnerships. In her second book As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock [https://penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com/book/?isbn=9780807028360] (Beacon Press, 2019), Dina applies her expertise in environmental justice to create a foundation for thinking through what environmental justice policy means in Indian country. The only book of its kind, it stands as a primer for governments and organizations of all kinds who are engaging in environmental justice work with Indigenous peoples. Most recently, she authored “Who Gets to be Indian? Ethnic Fraud and Other Difficult Conversations about Native American Identity” (2025). Dina is regularly invited to speak on topics related to American Indians (including environmental justice) at universities, conferences, and gatherings of all sorts all over the country. * Dina’s website [https://dgwconsulting.org/] * “All the Real Indians Died Off, And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans [https://bookshop.org/p/books/all-the-real-indians-died-off-and-20-other-myths-about-native-americans-dina-gilio-whitaker/7275e8afc2f09b36?ean=9780807062654&next=t]” * As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock [https://bookshop.org/p/books/as-long-as-grass-grows-the-indigenous-fight-for-environmental-justice-from-colonization-to-standing-rock-dina-gilio-whitaker/e994a8240f1914ab?ean=9780807028360&next=t] * “Who Gets to Be Indian? Ethnic Fraud, Disenrollment, and Other Difficult Conversations About Native American Identity [https://bookshop.org/p/books/who-gets-to-be-indian-ethnic-fraud-disenrollment-and-other-difficult-conversations-about-native-american-identity-dina-gilio-whitaker/6e5512b39cdfe3a3?ean=9780807044964&next=t]” Ben Price is a pioneer in the Rights of Nature Movement. In 2006 he organized the first community on Earth to recognize legal rights for Nature, Tamaqua [https://celdf.org/2015/08/tamaqua-borough/], Pennsylvania. In the decades that followed, Ben continued organizing scores of communities to enact community rights and rights of nature local legislation. In 2010, Ben was called into Pittsburgh, PA, where he organized in the City’s nine districts and lobbied their respective City Council representatives to draft and enact a ban on hydraulic fracking and that also recognized the rights of local ecosystems to exist, flourish, and evolve. The law was enacted by unanimous vote [https://celdf.org/2010/11/press-release-pittsburgh-bans-natural-gas-drilling/] of the City Council. Ben’s book “ [https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/How-Wealth-Rules-the-World]How Wealth Rules the World: [https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/How-Wealth-Rules-the-World] Saving Our Communities and Freedoms from the Dictatorship of Property” was published in 2019 and his novel, “OGDEN: A Tale for the End of Time” [https://histriabooks.com/product/ogden-a-tale-for-the-end-of-time/] was published in 2023. Ben’s collection of essays Wouldn’t You Say? [https://celdf.org/2024/11/order-your-copy-today-of-celdfs-new-publication-wouldnt-you-say/] was published by CELDF in early 2025. Max Wilbert is co-director of Community Resistance and Resilience with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). He is also a community organizer, wilderness guide, and co-founder of the anti-mining group Protect Thacker Pass. He has been active in grassroots political movements for 25 years. Max is a MA candidate in Degrowth at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where his research focuses on sustainability, greenwashing, and resistance movements. He is co-author of the book Bright Green Lies: How The Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781948626392], author of an essay series titled We Choose to Speak, and writes a newsletter called Biocentric [https://maxwilbert.substack.com/]. His work has been featured in CNN, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, Dark Mountain, Earth Island Journal, and elsewhere. Get full access to Truth and Reckoning at celdf.substack.com/subscribe [https://celdf.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Donkeys, Slowing Down, and Eco-Collapse with Jeff McFadden

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work. In this episode of the Truth and Reckoning podcast, we speak with Jeff McFadden Jeff is a small farmer engaged in land restoration work in southeastern Missouri. He’s well-known in his area for driving to town in a cart pulled by one or two of his donkeys. Jeff’s political analysis is rooted in the concept of slowing down to reduce ecological impact and improve human life. As Jeff wrote in a recent piece: “I see a massive slowing of everything as inevitable. Speed is kinetic energy. If a mass moves, energy moves it. The faster it moves the more energy it takes. We’ve gotten so used to talking of things in abstract terms that we tend to think that the way things are is the way they have to be. All the cars, all the noise, all the dirt, all the stuff in all the stores, all the goods and services competing for our attention and our money, that’s just the way things are. We ignore the energy. We are oblivious to the universal energy flow underlying our entire global economy and social system, what one might call our civilization. A vast flow of kinetic energy pours without ceasing across Earth, and without it none of things we take for granted would happen or appear. An inconceivable amount of mass is moving around Earth’s land surface, water surface, low atmosphere, and close orbital space. All of that motion, all of that kinetic energy, was released from petroleum molecules by burning. That which we call civilization burns over 100 million barrels of petroleum a day. Over half of that, some fifty-five million barrels a day, goes to industry, including industrial agriculture. Over half of what’s left goes to transportation. The biggest single portion of that is ocean vessels which burn the heaviest diesel oil in the word, and that’s with over 100,000 jets taking flight every day. There’s no place in that system where you can take out one of every five gallons and not notice it. If we lose half of it we’ll be in deep s**t. The current economy is what it is as a result of unimaginable amounts of energy being unbound from molecules and released into the wild, into the ecosystem, into Earth, Water, and Air. Added to that, and exceeding it, excess solar energy gets caught by all the extra carbon we’ve put into the air. It’s massively not working. Everybody’s crazy.” This is a fascinating conversation that touches on eco-collapse, overshoot, Jevon’s Paradox, restoration, social change vs. individual change, and more. Links and Resources * Jeff’s YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/jeffthedonkeyguy] * Jeff’s Substack newsletter [https://mcfaddenj.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips] This episode can also be watched on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWLl99JfmmI]. About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert. You can find the show on: * Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/truth-and-reckoning/id1811198548] * Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2PRYRNfxL9fQfcxJiBhPGP] * Pocketcasts [https://play.pocketcasts.com/discover/podcast/a81746b0-0693-013e-3186-0affd846786d] * YouTube (video [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCELDF/videos] and audio [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLes1m5r1R-ZFDLDfuA5Li17oLfUZoJVa3]) * And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app [https://episodes.fm/1811198548]) About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund CELDF [https://celdf.org] is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power. Get full access to Truth and Reckoning at celdf.substack.com/subscribe [https://celdf.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Civil War is Already Here

Through the 4th of July CELDF will be challenging dishonest narratives about America’s past and how those lies distort our lives in the present. This essay is the last installment in a four-part series of reflections on the Declaration of Independence from CELDF’s staff. By Max Wilbert The destruction of our planet isn’t a mistake or an accident. It’s driven by deliberate policies designed to maximize extraction of resources from the natural world and labor from workers for the benefit of the wealthy. The same is true for resurgent fascism and white supremacism, mass extinction of wildlife, ecological collapse, the climate crisis, and social polarization. In each case, these are either policy instruments of the ruling class (aka the Epstein class) or what they see as acceptable costs. George Kennan, former State Department Director of Policy Planning and at the time one of the most influential men in government, wrote in a 1948 memo [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Memo_PPS23_by_George_Kennan] that “[The United States has] about 50 percent of the world’s wealth but only 6.3 percent of its population... Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships, which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity...” Kennan is telling the truth that is often obscured: the primary goal of US government policy is not to raise the global standard of living, spread democracy, education, or health, but to maintain disproportionate wealth. Whatever scraps are provided to the working class in this country are mostly aimed at keeping us too content, distracted, and addicted to muster an effective rebellion. The United States of today is far, far more unequal than in 1948. This country has more than twice as many billionaires as the second-ranked country (China), despite having less than 25% of China’s population. And the power these wealthy people wield is totalitarian. Research which examined 1,800 policy proposals in the United States [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B] and compared the level of public support vs. likelihood of a proposal becoming law found that ordinary people have a “non-significant, near-zero level” of influence over government decisions. Meanwhile, the results showed that “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy”. In other words, our votes, public comments, and activism are exerting “near-zero” influence on government policy; the wealthy control the government entirely. We live in an oligarchy — a society ruled by the rich. Political philosopher Sheldon Wolin called this system, defined by the ongoing presence of supposedly democratic processes concealing a government which is functionally ruled by an unelected elite, inverted totalitarianism. The population has either been propagandized into believing we’re free [https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/how-journalism-protects-elites-and], bribed [https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/weve-become-business-partners-in] into a state of what Wolin calls “civic demobilization,” or beaten into compliance [https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/sacred-rage?utm_source=publication-search] with violence and surveillance. The Declaration of Independence, written 250 years ago, opens with the words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Words are cheap. I’m reminded of the words of James Baldwin who, writing in The Nation in 1966 about police brutality towards black children, said “I can’t believe what you say… because I see what you do.” By 1776, Europeans had already been engaged in a genocidal project of profit-driven settler colonialism on this continent for centuries, and a system of elite domination was firmly entrenched. The Declaration of Independence goes on to state that “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness… when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government.” This, I agree with. We are already living in a time of civil war. The United States government and the elites that run it are waging war against the people and the planet. They are killing people in the streets, abducting families, conducting illegal wars and genocide, strengthening a system of police state surveillance, and enriching the already wealthy to ever-more-obscene levels via systems of patronage and legalized corruption. Meanwhile, the climate descends into chaos, pollution proliferates, cancer and disease multiply, the planet is destroyed further every single day, and more and more people die deaths of hopelessness from addiction and poverty. Those killed by factory discharges, a lifetime of toxic industrial food, climate chaos, lack of basic healthcare and societal decency, and afflictions of despair are just as much casualties of the class war. It’s not just the current administration. The same has been true for my entire life, with different factions of the ruling class engaging in the push-pull cycles of minor reform and counter-revolution that make inverted totalitarianism such a resilient, effective, and convincing system of oppression. The civil war is already here. The question for us is, do we still believe in the mythology of the benevolent US government enough to be pacified, or are we prepared to throw off these rulers who have shown themselves time and time again to be leaders of a death cult? Max Wilbert is Co-Coordinator of Community Resistance & Resilience and Publicist for CELDF. He is the author of two books, writes the newsletter Biocentric [https://open.substack.com/pub/maxwilbert] on Substack, and has been part of grassroots political movements for 25 years. If you’re new here, this is Truth and Reckoning, a newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work. Get full access to Truth and Reckoning at celdf.substack.com/subscribe [https://celdf.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

When Revolution Stops Sounding Radical

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work. Through the 4th of July CELDF will be challenging dishonest narratives about America’s past and how those lies distort our lives in the present. This essay is part of a four-part series of reflections on the Declaration of Independence from CELDF’s staff. By Christine Schoenberger The crumbling of the American Dream is radicalizing the people to whom it was once promised. They are not activists or people who think of themselves in terms of left or right, but mostly people who have avoided politics altogether and assumed the system basically worked, even if imperfectly. But something interesting is happening in online discussions. You don’t have to look long before the patterns emerge: people, especially younger adults, describing unemployment or wages that don’t cover rent, having to work two jobs and still needing roommates well into adulthood, or medical debt that will never realistically be paid off. It’s not unusual to hear of people encountering ads for jobs requiring graduate degrees for entry-level work, or sending hundreds of resumes and receiving only silence. You may be surprised at the number of people in their forties who have quietly accepted they will never retire and doubt Social Security will exist when they need it. Parents describe how their entire paycheck disappears to cover childcare, but they can’t stay home with the kids because the family will lose health insurance if they don’t work. Commenters from other countries respond in disbelief that this is life in the United States. But something is shifting among people who once rolled their eyes at politics. They’re using words like “systemic,” “billionaire class,” and even “revolution” that they would have avoided even five years ago. And it’s not for dramatic effect; they’ve arrived at this conclusion on their own. It reminds me of this line from the Declaration of Independence: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations [comes from the government]…it is [the people’s] right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government…” We tend to treat that sentence as sacred or an artifact from an earlier time, but today it reads more like a directive. The Declaration did not simply announce independence from Britain. It said that when power consistently harms the people it governs, it loses the right to exist. This idea was explosive in 1776 and remains so now. Did the Declaration’s aspirations come to fruition? Politically, the Revolution succeeded in that a new nation was born. But economically and socially, power reorganized itself. The British pointed out the hypocrisy of claiming liberty while maintaining slavery. So-called “liberty” coexisted with property requirements for political participation, exclusion of women, and dispossession of Indigenous nations. Poverty, as always, remained concentrated among those already denied power. For generations, instability could be framed as someone else’s problem. The American Dream functioned as proof that the system worked, if not for everyone, at least for some. Even partial access kept the larger promise intact. But what happens when supposedly secure Americans begin to feel the same precarity long familiar to marginalized communities? What happens when the gap between the fairytale and the lived experience becomes impossible to ignore? What made the Declaration dangerous wasn’t that it asked for too much, but that it normalized resistance. It treated revolt as a rational response to sustained harm and even a duty, an idea that does not fade simply because a new government takes power. For a long time, calling something “radical” was enough to shut people up. Insults like “commie,” “extremist,” “terrorist” carried fear and stigma, warning others to stay quiet. But fear starts to lose its grip when experience becomes collective. There is only so long you can get away with these labels before they lose their impact. If we are willing to look honestly at our history, revolution is not outside of the American story, but one of its central chapters. The Revolution was ordinary people deciding that the system had broken its contract with them. Maybe the Declaration didn’t fall short because it was unrealistic, but because it was always uncomfortable for those with wealth and power. Once you tell people they have the right to resist sustained harm, that idea does not stay contained in one century. Revolution isn’t an interruption in our history; it is one of its foundations. And maybe what unsettles some people now is not the word itself, but how appropriate it is beginning to sound. Christine Shoenberger is a grant writer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). She holds a Master of Health Science degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and resides in Maryland with her family. Get full access to Truth and Reckoning at celdf.substack.com/subscribe [https://celdf.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]