Narrative shaping and shifting have always been a crucial aspect of our work at the Legal Defense Fund (LDF). Some of our most profound legal victories came about because LDF litigators diligently fostered a national understanding of injustices Black people faced when navigating American society, from the schoolhouse to the courthouse and everywhere in between.
Indeed, the stories we tell, the calls to action we share, and the narratives we shape can not only speak truth to power but can fundamentally change power and shift us toward a better version of ourselves.
That may sound like a lofty goal for a Substack, but the times we are living in call for nothing short of radical idealism. We are approaching the dawn of a new America; our country will be tested in ways yet unseen, and the future of our multi-racial democracy hangs in the balance. All that we have come to understand about the constitutional ideals that America holds dear, who belongs here and who doesn’t, and what the future will hold for all of us will be challenged even more than they already have.
But OUR story — that of all who refuse to relinquish hope and relent to tyranny — is far from finished. We are still holding the pen.
So, we will keep writing. We will keep litigating, organizing, and advocating. We will keep a penetrating light on injustice so that we are never again forced to cower in the darkness of untruth, lies, and erasure. We will continue celebrating our wins, be they big or small, because our joy in triumph will not be quelled by those who seek to defeat us. And we will never, ever stop working to mold America into the country that was passed forward with promise by the freedom fighters and survivors who came before us: A country that was never built to serve Black people, but one that we have bent — and will continue to bend — against its will toward justice.
As Langston Hughes wrote:
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
As we embark on this new endeavor, please take some time to explore our Substack and peruse the “About” section for an overview of our approach to this critical narrative-shaping work. We hope you — and your colleagues and friends — will join us in subscribing to our newsletter as we all work in solidarity to navigate this next chapter of our democracy through words, actions, and an unyielding will to win.