Using an excerpt from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Letter from A Birmingham Jail,” 1963

“How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. To use the words of Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, segregation substitutes an "I - it" relationship for the "I - thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. So segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, but it is morally wrong and sinful.”

These powerful words still resonate today. My friends and neighbors of color are experiencing real and ongoing harm every day. That is unacceptable, and it cannot continue. These challenges exist across systems and institutions, and in many cases, they are becoming more visible and more urgent.

We need leaders who do not just speak about these issues during a campaign, but who show up consistently and do the work, every day.

We must take meaningful action on issues like gentrification, profiling, and redlining, and advance legislation that addresses both racial and economic disparities. That includes eliminating bias and discrimination in policing, the courts, and incarceration, as well as in our schools and healthcare systems.

This work is about fairness. It is about ensuring that every person is treated with dignity and has access to the same opportunities. Not special treatment, but equal treatment under the law and in practice.