 Thank you and now it gives me great pleasure to introduce our final speaker of the morning session my dear friend the longtime board member of the drug policy alliance the senior servant and metropolitan interdenominational church in Nashville Tennessee Reverend Edwin Sanders. I want to stand back to your feet all those freedom movements that Ethan just listed every one of them has a freedom song so I'm gonna treat you treat you one today okay I'm just gonna start singing this song if you know it and that's something that don't know it I'm just gonna ask you to learn it real quick it just goes like this we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes that's it that's all of it we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest there you go we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes come on louder than that we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it come take the roof off this time we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. Ethan talked about freedom but freedom is a constant struggle freedom is not what we do on our day off freedom is not the business that we're about but it's convenient and easy freedom is not something that we can opt into and opt out of freedom is not something that we can excuse ourselves from when we desire if we're going to be a part of this movement there's a way in which we have to understand that we cannot rest until it comes on July August the 12th Ethan sent me an email and the first line of the email was what a day if only every Monday was like this I've held onto that ever since because we need to be the people who can stand up every day and say what a day we need to be able to know that every day is the right day it's not just the day when we've heard from Washington the news that we want to need to hear it's not just the day when we've been able to have the experiences that allow us to have some sense of individual and collective success in our efforts it's not just the day when we personally feel like something we've done has made a difference but it's the day that has to become our every day Ethan said he wishes every Monday could be that way I want every day to be that way because there's a way in which we ought to be able to say every day it's all right it's all right now I want you to have that line I'm used to talking to people who talk back to me all right if you don't want to talk back you gotta say man but not wink or do something and let me know you hear me right and I did the first thing I want to say about this business about it's all right and that's the line I want you to hold on to today it's just simply it's all right let me hear you say that you see it's all right today because we're the right people and we're the right place I mean it's all right all right we're the right people in place it's the right day it's the right issue and if we allow ourselves to live up to the possibilities of potential the locked up the people in this room we can be sure that the drug war will be brought to an end so I realize I was going to end up with only about 15 or 20 minutes so I decided what I was going to do was give you the title of all five of the messages I intended to deliver the first one was don't take no for an answer is that all right the second one was don't turn back the third one was overcoming the culture of oppression the fourth one was living in the shadows of the Empire and the fifth one is one that many of you all know especially your reggae fan if you know any Grants boys at all is living on the front line let me tell what I heard in our session yesterday we brought fake leaders together one of the things that we talked about in that session was we talked about the whole business of how this movement has evolved in the places that we're celebrating it today and one of the things I will suggest to you is that movements don't happen unless there's something unless there's some energy unless there's some force and that's there's some dynamic unless there's some presence unless there's something that transcends what we can easily reduce to what we can embrace with our limited ability to logically and reasonably wrap our minds around it the first thing I'm convinced we have to understand is that it's beyond the limitations of reason and logic but what we're talking about in this movement requires you being able to see being able to believe being able to embrace being able to visualize being able to somehow carry your heart the awareness that what you're trying to do even though all of the all the factors in life might say it's beyond what can be done you have to be the one that believes there's something bigger and there's something greater and there's something that you can do that no one else can see and see as being possible when Ethan stands here and talks about the movement that transcended to the end of slavery don't you know that no one who had shackles on their feet who had to have the whip marks on their back who did not have any of the privileges that were a part of the ideals of this country could even began to see the possibility that we would be here today you see it's only because there's a spirit that carried it what we talked about a little bit yesterday was trying to talk about how we own how we shape how we fashion how we end up being a part of constructing the spirit of this movement and I'm convinced this captured that little song I had to singing the just simply said we who believe in freedom will not rest until it comes don't you know there were those who they never believed that women's rights would be where they are today don't you know that just 30 or 40 years ago there are those who never would believe the same gender loving people would be able to freely marry and have relationships that are accepted and affirmed and celebrated in places where you never thought there would be before don't you know there's no way that the rights that we take for granted are not the byproduct of some people who had to rise above the limitations of logic and we need to understand that from where we are today because this movement is one that's going to have a transforming effect upon the world and the times in which we live each of the senator but you need to hear it in your own heart in your own voice in your own way you understand if we do this right we'll deal with all the complex and difficult issues that are undermining the infinite possibilities of life available available for all of us in this world if we do this right we'll adjust the issues of economic opportunity if we do this right we will deal with the issues of access to housing and that kind of thing if we do this right we will deal with health care that's available to everywhere everybody everywhere if we do this right you see there's a thread in this there's a way in which I cannot be happy I cannot be content I cannot be satisfied I cannot sit out I can't stop until I know that the forces that drive and the forces that continue to be a part of what allows this horror to be visited upon us in the name of the drug war is not going to go away don't you know then drug war I want you to understand this right now it's nothing but the mask of all the stuff we hate the drug war is the mask of racism the drug war is the mask of sexism the drug war is the mass of xenophobia the drug war is the mass of homophobia Islamophobia and all the other stuff that contend it's the mask and one of the things that we're gonna do is take off the mask I'm almost ashamed to tell you this I don't know why Ethan I depend on Ethan to feed me information that's my wife right there Billy I'll wait by your hand Billy let me tell you what Billy says about me all the time she says if you'll be able to say this about Ethan's speech this morning she says I can be with you where you heard something the same time I heard it for the first time and the next time I hear you deliver the switch I would swear you were it all originated with you now I depend on Ethan all the time to feed me information but yesterday we started talking about the Netherlands and the way in which that country had made one of the more important steps historically in terms of dealing with this issue of drugs and rights and the line that I picked up on either what you never gave me before was ever really what underverted that in the Netherlands was this line that all people are worth what all people are worth saving is that the line all people are worth saving can you imagine what that means all people are worth saving you see what that means is that that gave a speck gave a voice to a spirit that gave a voice to a power that gave a voice to something that transcends all the limitations and all the barriers of fragmentation and division because there's a way in which what we have to do at the heart at the core at the center of this movement is make sure that all about efforts are shaped in a fashion that are affirming of all people I like the way what sir let's say a little bit earlier it's ending the war on people who use drugs in the war on people who use drug it's kind of like going to the doctor I tell people all the time you always want to go to a doctor who treats the person who has a disease versus the doctor who treats the disease that the person has that might not sound like it's a big difference but the difference is it's about people it's not just about individuals it's about community it's about understanding that there's something inherent that there's something that's a part of who we are as human beings that's always mitigating the direction of trying to bring together pull together keep together hold together the community of people that some people like monster king junior referred to as the beloved community but there was a community that had a heart in a way that allowed as how the thermon said when we engage each other my relationship to you is when my heart connects with your heart when my heart in your heart began to resonate as one when my heart and your heart come to be a part of a fabric that is seamless and cannot easily be torn apart because we've been woven into that which we are as a result of a spirit that's bigger than all of us even your dad would have been proud of you this morning that boy prayed in front of everybody you know even his father was a rabbi was a rabbi he learned it well he heard it enough he knew it I always like it without eating too because he always understands like to call up the last minute say even gotta do a funeral gotta do wedding gotta do this and other but you know let me just tell you this it is about people understand that you not only have to have to just give lip service to the ways in which you believe and know and understand there's some energies there's some forces there's some powers working that are bigger than we are there's a way in which we have to appreciate the fact that we are the evidence of that fabric right now we are the drug policy congregation we are the drug policy assembly we are the people who right now represent what is the greatest hope to ending the insanity and the madness that is loose all around us so we can't ever take no for an answer we can't take no for an answer we have to be the ones who will insist on being heard we can't take no for an answer if you're not going to take no for an answer the first thing you have to do you have to move beyond your fear and there's still fear that continues to be the thing that cripples and undermines and represents a stumbling block in terms of this movement there are too many people in Congress I was so glad to hear the congressman suggest that perhaps there are some ways in which we will see some changes because of the way in which this groundswell of energy which we represent in this room is going to impact the behavior of a lot of folks in Washington who even if they get on board for the wrong reason you know let me tell you something about a strong voice okay a strong voice will make bad people do the right thing you can understand you know there's a great text a great biblical text and I always it doesn't make any difference you have to read the Bible or another text even that's a great story about a woman who says she had to go to a judge who had no fear of God and no respect for people but it says she just kept on coming and eventually the wall came down the barrier was removed the avenue was open and the possibilities were released we're the ones that have to understand we got a long way to go but a part of what we have to do is we can't take no fun answer but we have to make sure that our critique is relentless such that when you heard that time I gave you call the whole business of living in the shadow of the Empire it is great for us to be here where we are today it is a wonderful moment of affirmation of the energy and the effort that has gone forth in terms of this movement but you have to appreciate the fact that even right now we are living in the shadow of the Empire right now it's obviously not in the interest of those who see themselves in this world as the true power elite to be a part of this movement but we have to understand that if we continue to raise the issues as we should if we continue to insist on not accepting no for an answer there's a way in which those who in some ways we think can never be moved bad people bad people can be moved and force to do the right thing there are people who are profiting there are people who are getting funky rich every day every day often continue to perpetuate this madness but we need to understand and they need to understand that we are not those who will try to pretend that the issue of the power being vested in the hands of just a few is not a part of what continues to perpetuate the problem we're talking about freedom we talked about freedom and we have to be clear about what it means but last but not least we have to understand what it means to be those who are living on the front line the people live on the front line the first thing you got to know is you got to be ready to live on the fire you got to be ready to live on the fire because there are people who are taking aim and there are people who are trying to undermine there are people who are not our friends who are about the business of trying to make sure that this movement does not go forward I couldn't help but appreciate Ethan's words when he said there's a way in which we have to look at those of you that it began to bring down some of the barriers and understand that we've got to figure out how to support you encourage you and stand with you because you're going to be living under fire you're living on the front line the first thing you have to second thing you have to realize is that where you are is simply at the point that there are literally tens and hundreds of thousands who in the ranks behind you who need us to continue to speak up speak out and if necessary act up until that which we need is addressed and done the third thing we have to do is we have to live in the way that for us says we will live in the light you know it's important not to allow ourselves to become in any way closet it anyway let me just tell you five minutes actually I was gonna stop in about two that's all right so I got three more minutes to work with all right but you have to get ready for this you got to be able to live in the light every day it's not easy we're talking about bringing the faith community into this arena and for us to speak the truth that needs to be and has to be spoken around this issue and I should not say bring into this gap the faith community has always been here and involved but we're talking about a massive involvement in a way that we have not seen before especially in the communities of those who are being disproportionately impacted more than others we are blessed that we've now been able to create an alliance and a relationship with the same process to the work that they're doing we're blessed in that the folks from Pico who've always been there on social justice issues have been there we need to appreciate the fact that we do have an opportunity in the next few months I'm convinced to be a part of doing something that might see for us Ethan a greater return on the promises that were made in this last electoral season when the president won his second term we need to be figuring out right now how to make sure that the midterm elections come out in a way that give the kind of reason why I have hoping that I have hoping it because we're talking about a president who spent more than the last two decades almost three decades of his life organizing people around social justice issues in the south side of Chicago now we got to figure out how we bring that energy to bear with the presence in the White House and when that happens we're going to all know that we did the right thing in terms of our support and in terms of but that's only going to happen when we continue to be the ones who push the issues stand up speak up and necessary act up and the last thing I want to tell you is that you got to learn what it means to just keep the faith now for some of y'all that instantly takes you to a place of difficulty because some of y'all have been alienated from the institutions that you think of as being identified with faith but why don't suggest to you is that it's bigger than any religion in and of itself it has to do with something that's inherent in us all and that's the ability to believe in what you've heard me say now for the fourth time the infinite possibilities of life that's the only way you can believe in every person being a person that has worth it's the only way you can believe and what I'm saying to you today is that you have to keep the faith because you see when you're on the front line and when you're under fire you've got to be able to know that there is a power greater than you that there is something that is a part and akin to the truth that we've been trying to deliver through this movement for a number of years now and we have to be the ones who will stand in it stand for it and not let it go we have to be the ones who are the champions of the disenfranchised the marginalized the left out the forgotten the put down the held down the kept down the misused the abused we're the ones that have to be there every time a voice needs to be heard on behalf of those who are struggling every day to overcome the ways in which the ravages and the powers of this drug war have served to undermine the lives of so many it happens when people like you and me and all of us stand up stand up stand up stand up and speak up in the face of what might be a horror that's unfolding we're the ones that know in spite of everything it's what it's gonna be all right it's gonna be all right because we are the ones that are gonna stand up it's gonna be all right because we're the ones that are gonna speak up it's gonna be all right because we're the ones that won't turn back who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it come we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it come one more loud time we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes God bless you