The American dream died. It died in a car on Portland Avenue South with Renee Nicole Good. It died in Keith Porter’s yard in Los Angeles while he celebrated New Year’s Eve with his wife and kids. It died with Alex Pretti, pinned down and shot repeatedly in the back for shielding women from pepper spray. The American dream is dead.

But we have no time to mourn it. We have work to do. We have protests to organize, we have boycotts to uphold, we have aid networks to maintain, we have things to learn, we have letters to write and calls to make, we have votes to cast, we have voices to share, we have people to educate, we have rapid response teams to support, and most importantly of all, we have the American dream to revive.

An American dream where we are truly free, instead of being told to submit or die. An American dream where we are truly equal, and not sent to concentration camps for being black or brown. An America where we have due process, rather than skipping trials for taking too long. An America where we have opportunity, instead of a wage gap that saw 900 billionaires making almost 25 thousand times what the average US household makes in a year. If we want the American dream to live, we must ensure its rebirth. Otherwise, it will stay dead, and they will continue to kill those who dream of it.

The only chance we have is us.