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Letitia James speaks
Disclaimer: A friend sent me the TikTok and the speech seems recent but I can’t find the exact location or date.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8jA1Euw/
This is not the time to bend the knee. This is not the time to cooperate. This is the time … to stand up. Because what they would like to do is erase your history. What they would like to do is again not provide you with opportunities. What they would like to do is to make sure that you are on the back of the bus. And so it's important that everyone understand what is at stake. And what is at stake is an existential threat to all that we believe in -- all of our values as a nation.
And as Attorney General of the great state of New York I want all of you to know that we have prepared -- all of the democratic Attorneys General -- all 23 of us. And we and we did research on Project 2025. We did research on who had standing. We did research on Circuits. We did research on jurisdiction. And we were ready.
This was not the election that we anticipated but this is the election that we got. And so when he filed his first lawsuit, when he issued his first Executive Order on birthright citizenship--and some of you here benefited from birthright citizenship which is inscribed in our Constitution--we filed the lawsuit within two days. Because we were ready. In addition to that, when they stopped funding OMB -- the Office of Management and Budget-- we were ready. We filed suit. When they filed an action terminating all of those employees in the federal government, primarily women, we filed a lawsuit. We were ready. When they sought to dismantle the Department of Education we were ready. On DEI we were ready. On LGBTQ we were ready. And the list goes on and on and on and on.
My point to all of you is you've got to be ready. You've got to be ready and you've got to stand up and be courageous. Because dictatorships and autocracies basically want you to cooperate. They want you to bend the knee. But democracy requires courage. Democracy requires that you stand up and defend what you have. And all of the work that our ancestors died for, bled for --all of that. This is not the time to be silent. This is the time to recognize that our democracy is at risk. And we will not cooperate with dictators and no one elected a king.
And for all of those out there who thought that he was just going to reduce the price of eggs or that he was going to provide opportunities to people, he lied to you. He fooled you. And now he wants to turn his back on all of you. And for all of you who think that by staying home you did something good because you, for some reason or not, you didn't believe that Kamala Harris supported black people or that she wasn't black enough -- well this is what you get. This is exactly what you get.
But they want to tear down our democracy. And so I don't know about you, although he's coming after me, I'm not afraid. Because I know that our ancestors died for this right. And I will not be silent. And I will not allow all the privileges and all the rights that we enjoy as a community and as a People to be to be destroyed, because with the stroke of a pen, he thinks that somehow he can control the entire government and our entire democracy.
Every revolution [in this country] didn't start with politicians or elected officials. It started with young people -- young people who marched in front of those tanks in Tienemen Square in China; young people who knocked down the Berlin Wall; young people who voted in the civil rights struggle; young people who marched and fought in our wars; young people in the civil rights struggle who rode those buses and young people who were out there who had vision and who believed in a person who had the weird name called Barack Obama. It was young people. And so now to all the young people who are here today now is your moment. Now is your moment. With everything that's at stake now is your moment to stand up with steel in your backbone and thinking about all of those died for you to be here and for the benefits that you now have.
We cannot go back. We can not destroy all the progress that we've made. We've got to continue to go forward. And the only way that we can do it is if we stand shoulder to shoulder arm and arm. Stand up as courageous individuals. Because the future my friends lies in your hands. And if you close your fist in a clinch you'll get absolutely nothing. Extend it. Extend the hand and let people know that we're prepared to stand up and fight back. I know I will. I'm going to use the law each and every time. I'm going to march into court with my head held up high and my back straight. Because I know where I come from. And I know from who I belong.
Do you?
God bless you and thank you.
And as Attorney General of the great state of New York I want all of you to know that we have prepared -- all of the democratic Attorneys General -- all 23 of us. And we and we did research on Project 2025. We did research on who had standing. We did research on Circuits. We did research on jurisdiction. And we were ready.
This was not the election that we anticipated but this is the election that we got. And so when he filed his first lawsuit, when he issued his first Executive Order on birthright citizenship--and some of you here benefited from birthright citizenship which is inscribed in our Constitution--we filed the lawsuit within two days. Because we were ready. In addition to that, when they stopped funding OMB -- the Office of Management and Budget-- we were ready. We filed suit. When they filed an action terminating all of those employees in the federal government, primarily women, we filed a lawsuit. We were ready. When they sought to dismantle the Department of Education we were ready. On DEI we were ready. On LGBTQ we were ready. And the list goes on and on and on and on.
My point to all of you is you've got to be ready. You've got to be ready and you've got to stand up and be courageous. Because dictatorships and autocracies basically want you to cooperate. They want you to bend the knee. But democracy requires courage. Democracy requires that you stand up and defend what you have. And all of the work that our ancestors died for, bled for --all of that. This is not the time to be silent. This is the time to recognize that our democracy is at risk. And we will not cooperate with dictators and no one elected a king.
And for all of those out there who thought that he was just going to reduce the price of eggs or that he was going to provide opportunities to people, he lied to you. He fooled you. And now he wants to turn his back on all of you. And for all of you who think that by staying home you did something good because you, for some reason or not, you didn't believe that Kamala Harris supported black people or that she wasn't black enough -- well this is what you get. This is exactly what you get.
But they want to tear down our democracy. And so I don't know about you, although he's coming after me, I'm not afraid. Because I know that our ancestors died for this right. And I will not be silent. And I will not allow all the privileges and all the rights that we enjoy as a community and as a People to be to be destroyed, because with the stroke of a pen, he thinks that somehow he can control the entire government and our entire democracy.
Every revolution [in this country] didn't start with politicians or elected officials. It started with young people -- young people who marched in front of those tanks in Tienemen Square in China; young people who knocked down the Berlin Wall; young people who voted in the civil rights struggle; young people who marched and fought in our wars; young people in the civil rights struggle who rode those buses and young people who were out there who had vision and who believed in a person who had the weird name called Barack Obama. It was young people. And so now to all the young people who are here today now is your moment. Now is your moment. With everything that's at stake now is your moment to stand up with steel in your backbone and thinking about all of those died for you to be here and for the benefits that you now have.
We cannot go back. We can not destroy all the progress that we've made. We've got to continue to go forward. And the only way that we can do it is if we stand shoulder to shoulder arm and arm. Stand up as courageous individuals. Because the future my friends lies in your hands. And if you close your fist in a clinch you'll get absolutely nothing. Extend it. Extend the hand and let people know that we're prepared to stand up and fight back. I know I will. I'm going to use the law each and every time. I'm going to march into court with my head held up high and my back straight. Because I know where I come from. And I know from who I belong.
Do you?
God bless you and thank you.
3 replies
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