If you don’t like it, don’t leave. Stay and fight to make it better.

The reality is that all of America’s social and political progress is owed to people who saw problems, criticized them, but did not leave. Instead they stayed and sacrificed much, many losing their lives in order to bring about very much needed change. They were also told to leave. Fortunately, they didn’t.

Our founders didn’t like what they saw, and instead of leaving, they fought the Revolutionary War to change it. They ultimately wrote and ratified a constitution that guaranteed free speech — to all residents, not just citizens. The Founders saw free speech, assembly, and press as the most vital civil rights, without which there would be no democracy.

The abolitionists didn’t like their country allowing plantation owners to purchase human beings and force them into slavery. They did not leave. They fought the Civil War to change it. Thousands died in that fight against slavery. They won, and they made the USA better.

Something looks familiar here. Very 21st Century. I know what it is. No, I do. The bodies piled tightly together remind me of our concentration camps.

Laborers didn’t like being exploited and treated like dirt. They did not leave. They fought using civil disobedience and political pressure until unions were established and validated by the law. Many died in that fight.

But they changed labor laws and made America better.

The Ludlow Massacre of striking miners the Colorado National Guard and ,mining company guards in 1913. 25 were murdered, 11 of them children.

Black people [and their white allies] didn’t like Jim Crow law. They did not leave. They used civil disobedience and political pressure to bring about change. Several died in that fight, including their leader, Martin Luther King. Jim Crow laws were struck down.

And they made America better.