People’s March, January 18, 2025, Keynote Address: Hope, Healing, and Human Rights

Rev Dr Pamela Marolla

Galesburg, IL

I introduce myself, thank the leaders, acknowledged other religions and forms of spirituality.

We find our healing in hope. Hope is that which brings us here together today. Thank you for being here.

 This should be no surprise, but we are all humans.

The reason I say that is because it shouldn’t have to be spoken.

Do you know that human rights were not often considered in the history of the world..

But every time people lost that awareness, historically every time we took our eye off of human rights, we became terrible people.

Look at history. Holocausts, genocides, slavery, war

So, I am of German ancestry. I grew up as a child of the 60s and 70s. and I couldn’t imagine, when I started studying history, and learned about WWII, I couldn’t imagine how MY PEOPLE did such evil things.

As an inquisitive person, I started studying. And my husband who was an American Studies Major and loves history–helped me out, and we started taking vacations to places like holocaust museums. That doesn’t sound like much fun. It wasn’t. But what we learned is that people don’t just wake up in the morning and say, “you know, I think I want to be a Nazi, I’m gonna try that on.“

It doesn’t work that way. It takes years, decades, generations of  – – grooming.

That grooming starts with something very simple. It starts with dehumanizing language.  My husband and I were in the car yesterday and in about 15 minutes we came up with this list* (showed the group my legal pad) of dehumanizing language.)

 And this is where I want to talk to even the youngest people here. We can stop that  in our own homes, among our closest friends and family.

I’ll tell you, we had a big extended family gathering for Thanksgiving, And someone suggested that we not talk politics. (Seems like a good idea right? I got some amens at the live event.)  Well, my transgender niece said “Then I’m not coming!” (crowd laughs)

Because if all you see me as is a political issue, you’re not my family.

I want you to think about some of those dehumanizing words, because if you don’t have practice in calling it out,  you don’t know.

People get tagged as body parts, or animals. “That guy is a horses patoot.” “She’s a b****” There was a little child in Galesburg restaurant this morning was called the N word. (groans in crowd)

No! That is dehumanizing. Dogs, pigs, vermin, scum, retard, snowflake, crackhead, towel head.  I’m not even going to start with the rest of the words that you are all familiar with.

Just this morning, a child was called the N-word in a local restaurant.

But talk about dehumanizing words in your homes. Because even the smallest child, maybe especially the smallest child, the concrete thinker isn’t scared when telling their friends,

“that’s not nice. That’s a person.”  Older kids and adults can flat out say “that’s dehumanizing.” (A tiny kid just said something to their mommy for all of us to hear – it was adorable.)

Dehumanizing is a way to “other” someone you don’t agree with.  Or someone who is different than we are. 

Or someone in an entirely other country – or neighborhood  that is in war, poverty, or squalor

• that we just can’t muster up enough empathy to care about
• When it’s someone who crosses a border faced with razor wire
• their children and ours are the same. They drink the samemilk.They need the same love. The adults do as well.
•  

But To dehumanize someone with words is a step toward legitimizing the treatment of them inhumanely

Note this  –

Learn from history because history is repeating itself. And if we don’t stop it in our homes, or in our community, we have no way of stopping it at a larger level (applause)

Kudos to all of you who are running for office and all of you who have held office.

Some of us are getting tired. We need you guys – everybody to do something.   Whether you are a seasoned protester, or you’ve never done anything before. Like just this, this is big for you. Congratulations! You’re here!

I see you! We see each other!

But don’t just come out today and say “I did something.”  It’s easy to speak out when you are among like-minded people. Step outside your comfort level once in a while. Do something. Stop the dehumanizing language at home and family if that is your first step. Then, start talking to more influential people. Talk to your city council members, county board, or anybody on any board.  If they are progressive, they are going to need encouragement!  If they are doing terrible things – call them out.

Because of the dark side, Yoda talks about the dark side in one of my favorite quotes– fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. And suffering leads to the dark side.

Instead of using “the dark side” which I don’t like. Use the word inhumanity

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering, suffering leads to inhumanity

Inhumanity is putting children in cages

Inhumanity is taking away a woman’s bodily autonomy

Inhumanity is choosing war over diplomacy because rich people can make more money from war.

Our beloved Jimmy Carter used to say “We cannot make peace by killing each other’s children.”

We need to stay strong and stay together. You see when progressives use dehumanizing language, That’s not our wheelhouse. So, when the Right catches us it always ends badly.

Basket full of deplorables?  How’d that go?

No. We use humanizing terms with people we disagree with or disrespect deeply. Whether we agree or not, they too were created to be treated as a human.

Let’s show them a better way. Let’s show them what it is to be humane                      

Do you know that women didn’t have the right to an abuse-less home until someone prosecuted a spouse beater through Humane Society laws?

(That one struck the crowd!)

(people in the crowd – “Yep, your dog had more rights than you.”

      Another – “Couldn’t even get a charge card til ‘71”

      – “I was born before you could get a checking account”

    – or a house

Your grandparents stayed together because your grandpa was an abuser and grandma couldn’t leave him. She didn’t have the ability. She didn’t have the financial ability to leave him.

Your husband could rape you without repercussions

People deserve humanity

The Human Rights commission that was developed by the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt after the horrors of WWII was made up from Nations from all over the world. They realized that things had gotten waaay out of hand.  To say the very least.

They came up with a list of things that every human on the planet ought to deserve.

They agreed that people had freedoms – they should be free from torture; free to express themselves; free to educate in PUBLIC SCHOOLS – everybody wanted good public education for all the children.  So that our kids could learn critical thinking skills and not get sucked into the vortex of, shall we call it, mis-information.

Some of these Human rights were –

The right to seek asylum,

The right to life, liberty, and privacy

The right to social security

The right to health – and adequate housing

The United States has stepped off of the UN Human Rights Council

The US stepped off

We need to step on

Step on? 

(crowd)

Step on – We will step it on. Yes

We Will March it on. (cheering)

Look around you today. Take a look. Take names.

Because the times are not going to get easier.

I am a Christian – for us it is not “fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering and inhumanity.” No. For us, we know that suffering leads to endurance, endurance leads to character, and character leads to hope! And hope does not disappoint.

So if you need hope, call a friend. Call someone else that’s here. Because those of us who are considered leaders. We get tired too. And we need so much encouragement. And we need everybody to walk together.  Healing comes from community.

Liberals, we are so bad at this. We are not good at this. We say,

“Well, I’m not going to the peoples march because it’s a women’s march.”

“I don’t agree 100% with that person leading it.”

“We don’t do things like that”

No!

(Someone Crowd) – Stand up or shut up.

I repeat yes, “stand up or shut up.” (lots of cheering)

So talk to the people you disagree with

Lean in to the people you agree with

    and make this a better Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, and country.

*The list of dehumanizing names we came up with in 15 minutes –

Animal reference	Body parts, functions	Reversals (calling a good or neutral thing bad)  also making illiteracy a good thing	Filthy things	Action slurs
Bitch, jack-ass, vermin, dirty rat, rat bastard, pig, snake,  chicken, dog, cur, toad, lousy, ape, monkey, fat cow	Horses patoot, ass, dick, ___head (crack, towel), old fart, shit, heel,	Woke, snowflake, Ivy Leaguers, over-educated, geek, nerd, libtards, peace freak	Garbage, trash (i.e. white trash, trailer trash), scum, scumbag, dirt-ball, crud, sleezebag, sleezeball, slime,	Baby killer, gang banger, baby factory

Condescending	Immigrant and ethnic terms	Disability slurs
Honey, sweetie, dear, girl, boy	Illegals, wetbacks, spic, dago,	Retard, spaz,, crazy, lame, cripple, so OCD, insane