By Bacardi Jackson, Executive Director, ACLU of Florida

As we look toward the close of 2025, we find ourselves in a defining moment for democracy — not just in Florida, but across our nation. Our democracy is being tested — not by a single law or leader, but by the creeping belief that power belongs only to the powerful, and that ordinary people can do nothing to stop them. We reject that lie.

The truth is, America has been here before. Nearly 250 years ago, a group of men declared that tyranny was intolerable — even as they built a nation on stolen land and the enslavement of other human beings. Their words were imperfect, but the idea they unleashed — that all people are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights — has been reimagined and made real by those they excluded.

It is the descendants of the enslaved, the immigrants, the teachers, the workers, the dreamers — the everyday people — who have carried this promise forward. Every expansion of freedom has come not from the halls of power, but from the courage of those who refused to be silent.

Today, that torch is in our hands. We see the same forces of tyranny at work: attempts to silence teachers, erase history, criminalize protest, restrict voting, and redraw maps to divide our communities. But we also see the same courage that has always defined this movement. We see it in students demanding honesty in education. In voters who know that their voices matter. In communities organizing for equality for our LGBTQ+ neighbors, dignity for immigrant families and pregnant people, and equal protection under the law for all — even when their voices challenge those in power.

The same courage that fueled revolutions, marched across bridges, and desegregated schools lives on in us. It reminds us that democracy is not a spectator sport — it is a collective act that requires commitment. And when we move together, history bends toward justice.

Dr. King once asked, “Where do we go from here — chaos or community?” In Florida, we have answered: we choose community. We choose courage. We choose democracy. Because this is not the end of our story — it is the moment when we rise to write the next chapter.

So yes, the stakes are high. But the power is ours. We will not surrender truth to propaganda or freedom to fear. We will stand up, speak out, and defend the rights that belong to all of us.

Because we are the people who refuse to be silenced. Because we are the movement that keeps marching forward.

Because we are the frontline of resistance.