An Opening Thought on 2025

A lesson from four historical icons and how we use their example to overcome the onslaught of injustice in 2025

Jimmy Carter’s passing made me reflect on how young our nation is. Consider this.

• President Carter was born Oct 1, 1924 and died December 29, 2024, at the age of 100. When he was 32, the last Civil War veteran, Albert Henry Woolson, died.

• Albert Henry Woolson was born on Feb 11, 1850 and died on August 2, 1956, at the age of 106. When he was 19, the last Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Frederick Bakeman, died.

• Daniel Frederick Bakeman, was born in 1759 and died on April 5, 1869, at the age of 109.

In short, a man who lived with us and died just days ago in 2024, was an adult when the last Civil War veteran died, who himself was an adult when the last American Revolution veteran died, who himself was born in 1759—before this nation even existed.

But there’s a fourth person we must acknowledge, without whom perhaps the aforementioned men may not have achieved what they did—a Black woman named Elizabeth Freeman. A woman most people have never heard of, but her example is one we must embrace as we enter the New Year. Let’s Address This.

(L-R) Elizabeth Freeman, Daniel Frederick Bakeman, Alberty Henry Woolson, and President Jimmy Carter.

The Past

Elizabeth Freeman was born in 1744 as an enslaved person and died on December 28, 1829 as a free woman. Unable to read, nor write, she solicited the help of an abolitionist lawyer named Theodore Sedgwick to fight for her freedom. In 1781 Freeman sued for her freedom. An all white jury convened by the Massachusetts Supreme Court agreed, and Freeman became the first person in U.S. history to win her freedom through the legal process. About her life Freeman would later declare:

Any time, any time while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it—just to stand one minute on God's airth [sic] a free woman—I would.

As the struggles before us in 2025 seem insurmountable, I reflect on the struggles these four icons fought to achieve what they did. Demanding and winning freedom against insurmountable odds, establishing a nation against tyranny, uniting a nation ripped apart by slavery and white supremacy, and demanding universal human rights against overwhelming opposition. And while none of them were perfect (except probably Freeman), they each played a critical role in forming a more perfect Union.

So as I reflect on this history, I think about the fact that as a nation we have been here before, and yet that never stopped those committed to justice from relentlessly demanding and achieving it. Thus, I believe we can overcome the struggles that await us in 2025—provided our North Star is justice and that we remain united in our efforts. It will not be easy, and the struggles before us demonstrate how daunting a task it is.

The Present

Today we see what seems to be an endless list of struggles of working families—families struggling to put food on table, immigrants and refugees struggling for basic recognition, working people struggling for healthcare access, Black, Indigenous, and people of color struggling against systemic racism, we witnessed an 18% increase in homelessness, and the list goes on and on.

Globally, we see Palestinians suffer genocide, Ukrainians fight off invasion, Congolese battle human trafficking, Afghanistan suffer violent patriarchy, Sudanese fight societal collapse, and Syrians struggle to build a new society, and again the list again goes on.

As each of these struggles and sufferings spill into 2025, we must remain informed, engaged, and ready to act. As James Baldwin reminds us, despair is not an option. Hopelessness is not an option. But taking action, is.

The Future

Let me start with four action items each of us can accomplish in January:

1. Get involved with your local city council, school board, and/or county board. Attend their meetings, speak at these meetings, and understand the local issues. And where you see injustice, call it out and make your voice heard.

2. Get behind candidates committed to justice, that reject corporate and SuperPAC money, and who have a track record of condemning horrors like genocide. Donate to their campaigns, volunteer for their election and re-election, and share their content on social media.

3. Run for office. If you cannot find the right candidate who is committed to justice, become the candidate committed to justice and lead by example. Young people, women, underrepresented communities — all of your voices are needed. Run.

4. Stay actively informed on the critical issues that impact us locally, nationally, and internationally. And on that, I hope you also invest in me to provide that insight.

Let’s Address This is my struggle to elevate marginalized voices, bring attention and insight to neglected issues, and demand accountability of those in power. Normally writers offer some discount or ‘new year sale’ to subscribe. While I don’t oppose that approach, I take a different path. I simply ensure my content is freely accessible to all readers, period. Whether you subscribe for free, or for $6/mo, $50/year, or as a Founding Member at $500—my advocacy is accessible to all because I don’t believe in paywalls for access.

So then why subscribe at all?

Well, subscribe because being informed matters, and the better informed we are on the injustices we face, the better the actions we can take to counter those injustices. Elizabeth Freeman became informed that Article 1 of the newly ratified Massachusetts State Constitution declared, “All men are born free and equal,” and used that as the foundation of her lawsuit—and in doing so both won her freedom and made history.

Subscribe because billionaires have bought media outlets to turn a clickbait profit, rather than to ensure Americans are informed on the things that matter. I’ve written about this dangerous capitulation of corporate bought media numerous times, and how it is simply unsustainable if we hope to uphold our democracy and human rights.

But finally, subscribe simply because you believe in me, in my struggle for human rights advocacy, and in the idea that we should invest in the people on the front lines of human rights issues working to uplift our society. I’m not funded by billionaires, and I’m not a billion dollar corporation. I’m a human rights lawyer doing everything in my power to uphold justice and build a better future for my children and yours.

In Closing…

We face major struggles in 2025. Different struggles, but not entirely dissimilar to the struggles battled by President Jimmy Carter, Civil War hero Albert Henry Woolson, Revolutionary War hero Daniel Frederick Bakeman, and human rights legend Elizabeth Freeman. And like them, we too shall advance and overcome, even if it is one small but consequential step at a time.

So, in 2025, may we successfully uphold justice in all we do, may we always protect the rights of the marginalized, and may we stand united with sincere good will towards our neighbors of every faith (or no faith), color, and nationality.

Indeed, may we finally form that more perfect Union—together.

I am grateful for your continued love, prayers, and trust as we elevate our struggle for justice in 2025 and beyond. Thank you, and let’s act to make it a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Qasim Rashid, Esq.

Founder, Let’s Address This

January 1, 2025