Bridge Note #9- October 18, 2025
No Kings 2.0- Montgomery County Courthouse Rally Speech
When I first sat down to write this speech, it was to describe to you the unconstitutional and cruel assault of ICE agents in our community.
But then I thought about it more. I am pretty sure most of you have seen on your phones and your TV screens exactly what ICE is and what they’re doing.
What you see on your screen is happening right here in Norristown
and throughout Montgomery County.
Since late May, 68 confirmed, but an estimated total of 100 immigrant residents of MontCo have been ripped from their families and jobs, cruelly and unjustly.
Husbands on their way to work. Brothers outside of immigration court. Sons cleaning the yard in front of their house. Families torn apart. Sent into financial and emotional crisis.
I decided to throw my first draft of this speech away. Because rather than focus on THEM, I’m going to spend the rest of my time today on US.
Because all of you here today are a part of a great awakening.
Americans have been asleep for far too long. Especially Americans who look like me.
All of the things this administration is doing have existed long before January 2025.
Immigration enforcement has never been just. For-profit prisons have never been just.
The militarization of our police has never been just. Our education system has never been just. Our healthcare system has never been just. The treatment of Black and Brown folks in the criminal system has never been just. Money in our politics has never been just.
Capitalism, white supremacy, and misogyny have long been bedfellows of the so-called American dream. This administration has simply brought to light the truth of what we have allowed in our society for far too long.
But it’s only when you see things that you begin to have the power to change.
The last thing those who pull the strings in this country want you to know
is that you have power. But we do. And they can’t take it from us.
They can only hope that we stay asleep, that we let fear and overwhelm overtake us,
that we stop remembering who we are as Americans, and more importantly, as HUMANS.
I am calling on all of you today to step through that fear and overwhelm
and reclaim our power.
We Must Look Inside.
Our own hearts and minds are the first and most important battlefield to win
If we are to create the country and the world our children deserve.
Learn to tell the difference between your ego and your authentic self —
and choose the latter. Learn about others who are different from you
and seek to understand your own bias.
Teach yourself emotional regulation. Learn to rest. Learn how to ask for help.
Find joy. Keep boundaries. And stop hating and beating yourself for things like how your body looks or how much money you have.
We Must Connect with Others.
Find your community — and do it now. Together is the only way forward. Our individualistic society has ripped from us the basic knowledge of communal care. For too long, we have relied on our failing systems
instead of each other.
We know all about charity, but it’s time to remember the mutual aid that lives in the DNA of being human.
We must Ground Ourselves in Love.
Fear feels like it’s more powerful than love —but that’s only because fear is the doorway you step through to reach love.
Love is not weak. Love is our weapon. The more we move from what we believe in
instead of what we are against, the more powerful we become.
We must RESIST.
We must not capitulate in advance to fascism. In every possible way we must say:
NO. Not here. We don’t do kings. We have free speech and a right to due process.
And no matter what they do, we will not stop speaking
and standing up for the rule of law, our constitutional rights,
and fair and equal treatment of ALL PEOPLE.
Join the Fight.
Congratulations — you’re here. You’ve officially joined.
Protesting is an important part of the resistance. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s useless.
Energy and connection are essential to this fight. But there is more that you can do.
You can continue to speak out — everywhere you can.
You can donate to support the resistance work that’s being done nationally and locally,
or to crowdfunding campaigns that support the victims of this administration.
You can volunteer locally at the many organizations doing the work
to defend rights and freedom here in Montco.
If you’re interested in joining the front line of this fight for immigrant rights —
Montco Community Watch needs more volunteers, too.
You can ask your local elected leaders to do everything in their power to protect our communities.
Support Immigrant rights activists, calls for our County Commissioners
to finish the great work they’ve done by codifying a Welcoming Resolution -
to make it clear that Montco will not work with ICE, and to lead the way for the rest of Pennsylvania.
Join the Welcoming 62 Campaign to get every one of our municipalities
to pass comprehensive welcoming policies that make it clear to police officers and municipal employees that they cannot work with ICE beyond what is legally required.
We need residents willing to push for these policies and leaders to organize these campaigns.
We must REIMAGINE.
No revolution ever starts without first imagining the alternative.
Our systems are broken but they were unsustainable long before the dismantling.
But we KNOW what is possible. We know there’s another way to live and be in relationship with each other. We know the dream of a society where all people are truly free.
One of my favorite quotes says:
“We live in capitalism.
Its power seems inescapable —
But then, so did the divine right of kings.”
Change always feels impossible until it happens.
As we close out No Kings here in MontCo, across the country and across the globe —
I charge each and every one of you with this mission:
TAKE BACK YOUR POWER.
No political party, no politician, no single figure will save us.
It’s only US who can save ourselves.
WE THE PEOPLE!
Who will stand up against the fascist assault on our country?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
Who will keep speaking up no matter how they try to take away our First Amendment rights?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
Who will reject tyranny, authoritarianism, and kings?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
Who will defend and protect the rights of all people —regardless of their skin color, immigration status, religion, sexuality, or gender?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
Who will demand and defend our constitutional rights?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
Who will make Montgomery County the local front of a fair and just society?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
Who will dare to imagine and create a country and world governed by love, connection, and fairness, instead of hate, separation, and inequality?
WE, THE PEOPLE!
I will close today by speaking the words of the only King we should be taking notes from these days — the great radical Martin Luther King:
“I have the audacity to believe
that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies,
education and culture for their minds,
and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.
I believe that what self-centered men have torn down,
men other-centered can build up.
I still believe that one day, mankind will bow before the altars of God
and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed,
and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.”
All of us must resist this outward assault of white supremacy and authoritarianism on our nation with everything we have and all the while have the audacity, in the face of destruction, to create something more powerful and more just than weak, ego-filled men could ever imagine.