They’re Dismantling Democracy. We Don’t Have Time to Be Weary.

In 2018, HBO premiered “King in the Wilderness,” a documentary about the final years of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. One scene has stayed with me since I saw it for the first time.

In 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot during the March Against Fear, a march through the segregated South intended to defy racism and promote Black voter registration.

Meredith survived, and the march continued. Dr. King joined the March Against Fear — so did Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture). Those two icons of the Civil Rights Movement often disagreed, sometimes sharply, but they shared a commitment to justice and a refusal to abandon the movement when it faced violence.

They kept walking because they understood that progress is not built by perfect agreement. It is built by people who refuse to abandon the work when the path becomes difficult.

I think about that often as the new Executive Director of Netroots Nation and the first Black person to lead the organization in its 20-year history. I grew up in a family that taught me civil rights was neither mere history nor a vestige of the past. I understood the work of achieving civil rights for all was a collective responsibility that I had to carry forward.

As a Marine Corps veteran and educator, I have long believed that public service is a calling. Today, that calling feels especially urgent.

In 1852, Frederick Douglass stood before a crowd and asked a question that still echoes through our country’s history: “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?”

Douglass was challenging America to live up to its ideals. Today, as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the question belongs to us: Will we keep walking toward a more perfect union, or will we grow weary before the work is done?

Americans will gather beneath fireworks and celebrate the ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy. Yet this milestone arrives at a moment when those ideals are under strain. In Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court weakened one of the nation’s most important tools for protecting fair political representation.

For communities that have spent generations fighting to strengthen our democracy, the decision from the high court feels like another warning that hard-won gains toward equity and justice can be undone overnight.

The answer to moments like this is not cynicism or retreat. We must organize with intention. Our collective actions must include meaningful mobilization, coalition building, and sustained engagement because real progress does not happen by accident.

It happens when we come together around a shared purpose and a commitment to improving outcomes for the generations that will come after us. Those who seek to roll back progress are counting on our exhaustion and disengagement. We cannot afford either.

Progress requires participation. It requires people from a myriad of backgrounds and perspectives to keep showing up, building coalitions, and pushing this country closer to its highest ideals.

King and Carmichael did not agree on everything, but here’s what they taught us: you do not abandon the march when the way forward becomes difficult.

The question before us is not whether the work continues. The question is whether we will commit to the work of progress together.

So, walk together, children. Don’t you get weary. We still have work to do.

Anthony Robinson is the executive director of Netroots Nation and the organization’s first Black leader in its 20-year history. Netroots Nation is the largest annual gathering of progressives in the country. This year’s gathering is June 4-6 in Philadelphia.