Paul Revere’s famous ride was ‘a cry of defiance and not of fear’

We live in a world saturated with information a constant barrage that often leaves our minds struggling to hold onto even the simplest details like what we had for breakfast Yet there are moments powerful and resonant that etch themselves into our collective memory shaping our understanding of who we are For me one such moment was in th grade English class facing an assignment that felt like a teenage boy s torment memorizing lines from a poem But this wasn t just any verse it was a sonnet that spoke to the very heart of our nation s identity LISTEN my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year Through these words Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writing on the cusp of a nation divided by civil war transported us back to our origin story He painted a picture of ordinary people blacksmiths farmers merchants rising up against the dictates of an authoritarian king demanding a voice in their own governance Now exactly years from that fateful night a different kind of warning echoes across our land the specter of a new authoritarianism Longfellow wrote that Revere s ride was marked by a cry of defiance and not of fear The present day a similar cry of defiance rings out from the halls of Harvard University The attempt by the Trump administration to exert control through financial threats is not just an attack on the independence of this institution it undermines the vital residents good that all universities provide For generations the partnership between our universities and the federal establishment has been a powerful engine of progress fueling innovation advancing biological breakthroughs and driving economic increase To jeopardize this collaboration with ideologically driven demands puts that progress at grave pitfall The pressure on Harvard is not an isolated happening it is a signal As the powerful words of Martin Niem ller remind us when the freedoms of one institution are threatened and go unchallenged the liberties of all are at stake Harvard s stand therefore is not entirely about protecting its own campus it is about defending the fundamental rights and freedoms that underpin American society Another powerful voice of warning arose from Sen Cory Booker whose -hour speech on the Senate floor will be remembered as an extraordinary act of political resistance As the Trump administration moved to slash vital programs like Medicaid and Medicare and dismiss thousands of federal robustness workers Booker stood quite literally to disrupt the normal lesson of business in the Senate Our nation is in dilemma he declared invoking both the urgency of the moment and the long history of Black resistance to injustice Echoing the spirit of John Lewis Booker sought not just to speak but to make good trouble within the very halls of power His stand transcended procedural tactics it was a moral and rhetorical act deeply rooted in the American tradition of civil disobedience Booker s marathon speech was not about political maneuvering or winning votes it was about bearing witness He used his platform to center the experiences of everyday Americans the elderly who rely on Medicare for their soundness low-income families who depend on Medicaid for survival and especially Black communities who disproportionately bear the brunt of such cuts He reminded the nation that progress has never been freely given by those in power it has inevitably required pressure from those seeking justice He invoked the memory of Strom Thurmond s infamous filibuster against the Civil Rights Act a desperate attempt to block progress that ultimately failed suggesting that this day s injustices too would not go unchallenged As the Congressional Black Caucus voiced their backing and Booker recalled Lewis s bloodied march in Selma the message was unmistakable this was not just a political disagreement it was a battle for the very soul of our country In standing against the tide of authoritarianism Booker spoke not just for himself but for every American whose dignity robustness and democratic voice is under threat That threat is no longer abstract The scenario of Kilmar Abrego Garcia should send a chill down the spine of every American regardless of their immigration status or political beliefs This is not just the story of a man wrongly deported and imprisoned in a foreign mega-prison without trial or charge it is a stark and terrifying reminder that our constitutional rights are only as secure as the willingness of those in power to uphold them Kilmar a Maryland resident for nearly years with no criminal record was protected from deportation by a court ruling Yet he was forcibly removed under what the Trump administration termed an administrative error That error has now escalated into a constitutional emergency with the administration refusing to bring him back even in the face of a Supreme Court decision that falls short of mandating his return If due process can be ignored for Kilmar it can be ignored for anyone Legal experts warn that the precedent being set in this event strikes at the very heart of American democracy The Constitution guarantees due process for all people within our borders not just citizens yet this scenario reveals a dangerous new path where the executive branch can invoke foreign agenda to maneuver around these fundamental guarantees entirely As Prof Kim Wehle has explained this echoes the unchecked power of monarchs where individual freedom rests on the whims of the ruler If presidents can unilaterally decide to remove someone from the country and then absolve themselves of any responsibility for what happens next we are no longer a nation governed by laws but a nation subject to permissions Kilmar Abrego Garcia s fate is not his alone It serves as a chilling warning In an authoritarian system no one is truly safe These three distinct examples the assault on educational institutions the impassioned defense of social safety nets and the blatant disregard for due process are not isolated incidents They are interconnected warnings illuminating a dangerous trend towards authoritarianism that threatens the very fabric of our imperfect yet precious democracy We must heed the timeless wisdom of Benjamin Franklin who when urged what form of regime the newly formed nation had replied A republic if you can keep it The challenge before us is not only to preserve that republic but to strive for a rebirth a renewal of our nation built on the promise of a truly multi-racial and pluralistic society where the fundamental freedoms of speech worship freedom from want and freedom from fear are not just ideals but lived realities for all The time to listen to the warnings and to act with courage and conviction is now As Longfellow concluded his poem In the hour of darkness and peril and need the people will waken Mike Dean lives in St Anthony The post Paul Revere s famous ride was a cry of defiance and not of fear appeared first on MinnPost