So, today is Friday the 13th, and I’ll be saying a few words here, standing on the 1st Amendment rock here on Independence Mall.

Before I begin, I want to read the 1st amendment of the Constitution, as I always do at these short talks. We are here between the National Constitution Center and Independence Hall, and there is no more appropriate place in America to exercise free speech.

The first amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Tomorrow, people will be outside together, gathering to make their voices heard in more than 1800 communities across the country. You will need to be there. This will be a national NO KINGS protest.

But today, on this Friday the 13th in June, I want to talk about us — the American People — a nation of people who are learning how to make their own luck.

We keep hearing in media — both traditional and social — how the fascist regime is spreading fear into our countrymen and our guests by invading our cities, kidnapping people, sending them to torture camps and shooting us with rubber bullets. And, any day now, real bullets.

But the media is wrong. The story isn’t that the illegal regime is spreading fear. It’s that we are not afraid. We are standing together with courage.

Oh, there is cowardice. There are people hiding their IDs and their faces, wearing camouflage gear and wielding automatic rifles.

These are the paid mercenaries of the invading force. These are ICE agents, National Guards, military people, and — sadly — our own police forces.

We pay these people and they are at war against us. Think about that: we pay for our own abuse, for our own arrest and torture and worse.

But lets talk about these mercenaries. Very few of them signed up to do what they are doing. Police are hired to serve and protest. The military are sworn to protect the Constitution and the American people. National Guards are state controlled forces to protect the people in each state.

Now, they are engaging in cruel, immoral and deadly actions. Most of them do not like doing this. They know what they are doing is wrong. That is why so many of them are wearing masks. Many would like to stop.

But they don’t because they are afraid. They don’t want to be first. They fear that the regime will punish them, will try to make examples of them.

Let’s think a bit more about these armed enforcers. They are our spouses, children, parents, other relatives, and friends. Those who are brutalizing us, who are serving a rapist and felon, working for a women who is proud of shooting a puppy, serving a regime that breaks every law and norm in pursuit of unbounded power and greed — these are OUR loved ones.

We need to speak with them. We need to remind them of their legitimate responsibilities — to us, to their loved ones, to our Constitution and to The People.

We need to speak to the hired forces of the regime at our protests, tell them that their responsibility is to us. That to protect the Constitution, they must arrest the thug who is defying it with impunity. They need to arrest the criminal — the rapist, the felon — who leads this regime. They need to arrest all of his henchmen and henchwomen.

Unlike America’s violent history of our Revolutionary and Civil Wars, today’s movement is a peaceful one. But this is a movement that can — and with your help — shall win more fully than the American victories in those previous events.

Because the Revolutionary War removed our bonds to the English King, but didn’t truly make us free. And the Civil War failed to heal the divisions or to fully free the enslaved people.

But our movement today can, and with your help, will succeed. We will do this with nonviolent noncooperation and moral force — two woefully underestimated forces.

We will apply the force that removed Marcos from the Philippines, removed Milosevic from Serbia and ousted Ceaucescu from Romania. All without firing a shot.

Here’s how this works and what you need to know.

Our protests, repeated waves of protests, is the critical start. We grow our movement and learn how to take the appropriate and effective actions to dis-empower tyrants.

We see that our numbers are huge and our determination is limitless. Most of all, we learn that our power — as ordinary people — is limitless.

Because WE DO EVERYTHING and our opponents DO NOTHING EXCEPT ISSUE ORDERS. We have all the power and yet our opponents have us oppressing ourselves. BUT…

When we refuse to take orders, when our loved ones serving in the military, in ICE, in the National Guards, in police forces, refuse to serve the tyrant, he is revealed to the world for what he is:

A stupid old man with a black heart and delusions of grandeur. A weakling and a coward. Our defiance pulls back the curtain on the fake wizard and the entire world will laugh him off the stage.

This is where we are headed together. We will shut down departments and institutions which the regime needs to exercise power.

We will begin refusing to show up for work at jobs that support the regime. We will start refusing to pay taxes — because who want to pay for kidnappings and torture?

Who wants to be an accomplice in crimes against humanity?

We refuse. We will continue to stand together and refuse not as individuals but as a people.

So, be there tomorrow. Be out with your countrymen and women and guests in our country and everyone. We are The People. We are sovereign.

And we are beginning to exercise our power. In this way, someday very soon, we shall be free. Thank you.