“I have only just a minute. Only sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, can’t refuse it. Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it. But it’s up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it. Give account if I abuse it. Just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.”
Governor Wes Moore recited those words from Dr. Benjamin E. Mays as he stood before the crowd at Detroit’s 70th Annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner. His voice carried the urgency of a leader who knows change doesn’t happen by hoping or waiting. Moore called on every person in that room to use their minute, to act now, to do the work needed to bend policy, culture, and power toward justice.
Held June 29 at Huntington Place, the dinner gathered Detroit’s elders, young leaders, and freedom fighters under one roof to honor the past, confront the present, and chart a path forward. Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony didn’t waste time naming the stakes. “This is a most critical time in our nation’s history,” he said. “We all stand at the crossroads of whether we will go forward as Americans together or fall victims to anarchy and demagoguery at the highest levels individually.”…