Modeled on the Declaration of Independence, with historical parallels for African Americans
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to confront systems and individuals that perpetuate racial oppression, it is both moral and just to declare the causes which compel action.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all people are created equal, that they are endowed with inherent dignity, rights, and freedoms, and that whenever any group or individual seeks to undermine these rights, it is the responsibility of the people to oppose them.
They have refused their assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good, enacting instead Jim Crow codes, segregation laws, and voter suppression laws designed to deny African Americans equal protection.
They have forbidden governors and legislatures to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, blocking civil rights legislation during Reconstruction and the mid-20th century.
They have called legislative bodies at unusual and distant places, imposing poll taxes, literacy tests, and confusing voting requirements to disenfranchise Black voters.
They have dissolved representative assemblies repeatedly, suppressing Black political representation through violence, intimidation, and gerrymandering.
They have kept standing armies among us without consent, deploying police and National Guard forces to terrorize Black communities during the Tulsa, Rosewood, and Wilmington massacres.
They have affected justice by refusing impartial courts, leaving perpetrators of lynchings and racial violence unpunished.
They have made neighborhoods and towns unsafe, burning Rosewood, Tulsa, Wilmington, Ocoee, mirroring the colonial burning of Falmouth.
They have constrained Black citizens into forced labor, through slavery, convict leasing, and sharecropping, echoing colonial forced service.
They have obstructed laws for naturalization and political participation, denying the right to vote or hold office.
They have imposed economic restrictions without consent, including redlining, exclusion from banking, and discriminatory labor practices.
They have abdicated government by failing to protect Black citizens, leaving communities defenseless against mob violence and systemic oppression.
They have plundered labor and resources, exploiting Black workers for minimal pay while enriching others.
They have excited domestic insurrections, condoning or forming white supremacist militias such as the KKK.
They have obstructed justice by influencing courts to dismiss racial crimes, leaving victims without recourse.
They have denied access to education, creating generations of structural disadvantage.
They have violated the sanctity of families, separating children from parents through slavery to mass incarceration policies.
They have interfered with the development of community governance, preventing autonomous Black institutions.
They have failed to protect Black lives during public uprisings, responding with violence to peaceful protests.
They have spread propaganda to maintain racial hierarchy, using media, textbooks, and political rhetoric to normalize oppression.
They have deprived us of fair commerce, excluding Black-owned businesses from markets, credit, and property rights.
They have exploited fear and violence to suppress dissent, threatening and murdering activists and organizers advocating equality.
They have destroyed neighborhoods and livelihoods through urban renewal policies that displaced Black families.
They have denied health and safety protections, creating systemic disparities in healthcare, environmental hazards, and housing.
They have manipulated symbols and laws to legitimize oppression, appropriating cultural, religious, and historical narratives.
They have ignored or erased the history of Black suffering and resistance, denying truth in education and public discourse.
They have perpetuated mass incarceration and over-policing, targeting Black communities with criminal justice policies echoing colonial coercion.
They have refused to acknowledge the inherent dignity and equality of Black citizens, violating moral, civic, and constitutional principles.
We, therefore, as a people committed to justice, equality, and human dignity, declare our opposition to white supremacy and its enablers. We pledge to dismantle structures of racial oppression, hold accountable those who perpetuate injustice, and protect the rights and freedoms of every individual so that liberty and equality may flourish in our society.