This speech was given on Monday, January 19, 2026 at the annual MLK March & Rally organized by the Coalition Against Racism (CAR) at the Thomas Foreman Park in Greenville, by CAR activist who is a survivor of the NC injustice system.
We stand here dripping in resilience and fully surrounded by the spirits of the ancestors who refused to be silent. We are proof that the fire they had in them still remains in our hearts, voices and spirits. On this sun cycle I speak with a truth that shakes the foundations of this nation: mass incarceration is not incidental, it’s intentional. Our copper colored sisters and brothers hold the highest numbers in the prison systems, are policed in greater numbers across the nation, yet according to statistics, only make up 13% of the general population- a stark reflection of racial bias embedded in policing and a judicial system that enforces it. Our brown men in particular face a lifetime risk of imprisonment so high that even if it would begin to decline, one in five of our boys born today is more likely to go to prison at some point during his life. Now, I didn’t stand here to give a bunch of numerical statistics because I’m sure we can find those on the internet, instead I am here seeking a collective that refuses to accept injustice as normal, those with the courage to dismantle what was never built for us to thrive, a people ready to turn awareness into action, and are ready to apply relentless pressure for real freedom from the injustice system. We aren’t begging, we are demanding.
Let’s keep it real “innocent until proven guilty” is nothing more than a hollow phrase, a slogan of the DOJ, not a lived reality. Our men and women are arrested, charged, and assigned a bail in amounts that make freedom impossible. Often they sit in jail, days, weeks, months, and even years because the bond is set too high. Then there are many who sit in prison that have been wrongly convicted. Some of whom we are fighting for now are from right here in Pitt county. Because of this, careers are lost, reputations are damaged, children are displaced, and families torn apart. And if the cases get dismissed or charges are dropped the trauma has already woven into their spirits and it lingers permanently even after the physical bars fall away, this creates a form of PTSD that goes unrecognized and untreated. Months and years stolen with denied appeals and refused retrials, even when the evidence says they never should have been cited, detained, arrested or locked up in the first place. And let’s not forget the record that follows them like a shadow. Dr. King warned us when he said “ Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” And that is what we are handed, justice delayed by cash bail, denied by wrongful convictions, denied by qualified immunity, buried under badges and guns that are used as weapons of intimidation, disguised as protection. We demand no more cages, no more coercion, no more stolen time.
We demand real DOJ reform not press conferences, we demand the end of cash bail, we demand the end of mandatory minimums, we demand the removal of qualified immunity, we demand personal liability for officers who use and abuse power inflicting mental, emotional, and physical harm to be held accountable both criminally and financially. We will no longer allow those who hide behind badges and guns to coerce, intimidate, and dehumanize to thrive without real consequences. We demand that biased judges and reckless district attorneys answer for every life they ruin through wrongful convictions. When power is masked as law, every innocent life lost is on their hands. In addition, grand juries, which are supposedly impartial, yet time and time again have proven to be one-sided instruments to the state, we say either dismantle them or let the defense be heard, an indictment should never function as a verdict against the people before a fair fight is even allowed. Accountability must be real and we demand it from every level- police departments, DA’s offices, the bench, from the entire system.
We also need justice in practice, not just policy which is why I challenge the attorneys and advocates who live in, practice law in, and love our communities to hold free or low cost legal workshops educating the people of their rights, how to survive stops, illegal searches, and arrest. How to challenge unlawful conduct fearlessly. We demand community power. I challenge the community to stand up and demand the development of comprehensive, structured, and sustainable youth development, empowerment, and leadership initiatives that will ensure a brighter and freer future for our little brown babies. We must move from militarized policing and begin to care for our own communities. We demand true equity, healing, and a nation where real freedom is not conditional to our skin tone.
From the spirit of our ancestors to the roots of every family including my own that has been and still being affected by these systems, We say this: we no longer accept the mere crumbs. Any and all systems that were designed to break us do not deserve to stand. We shake the ground and crumble mountains with our demands for real justice.We are no longer asking for permission to have a future. We are taking it by force.
Dr. King spoke of nonviolence; but not in compliance with injustice! Justice isn’t coming, we are bringing it.
WE THE REAL COPPER COLOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE DEMANDING THE RETURN OF OUR FREEDOM, OUR RIGHTS, AND OUR LAND!
