Our Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Any student of history knows that our great country has not always lived up to these ideals. But my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., saw them for what they were.

Despite real progress, woke ideologues are hard at work seeking to restore the resentments of yesteryear, and they have infiltrated our school systems.

In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, he correctly identified those words as “a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir” and knew that one day, all people, regardless of color, would enjoy their guaranteed unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As a Christian, my uncle also acknowledged the biblical truth that we are of one blood and that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. He knew, too, that our country is not irredeemably stained by racism and that it is redeemed when we unite around our shared values and seek to lift up each other.

I have spent my life as an activist, an elected official, a mother, and a grandmother fighting for the realization of that vision, united in love and fellowship with Americans from all backgrounds. I have also led efforts to serve the marginalized and the most vulnerable among us. I am proud to say that so many times and in so many ways, we have succeeded.

Despite that real progress, some sadly want to take us backward. Woke ideologues are hard at work seeking to restore the resentments of yesteryear, and they have infiltrated our school systems. What we are now witnessing is a top-down effort to divide parents from children and children from their innocence.

Instead of educating our children, America’s schools have become factories for indoctrination. Today, left-wing activists in our institutions are working hard to erase all the progress we’ve made in unifying our country and transcending our differences.

In place of my uncle’s dream — in which we are judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character — they would erect a system of racial hierarchies, grounded in resentment, in which innocent black children will be taught that they are defined at birth by their skin color and it will be explained to them that the color of their skin will dictate the breadth of their ambitions. They will be taught that Caucasian children in their classrooms are to blame for all of it simply because they were born white. Many parents are shocked to learn that school systems are spending tens of millions of dollars a year to have teachers tell their students the American dream is a lie.

While our students’ minds are being poisoned by anti-American ideology, they are also being deprived of quality education, which is the foundation of success. Implementing Marxist and radical gender curricula has coincided with a rapid decline in U.S. academic achievement. Minority students suffer the most. In Virginia, just outside our nation’s capital, 84% of black students lack proficiency in mathematics, and 85% lack proficiency in reading skills. In the name of “equity,” we are setting these children up for failure. It is difficult to imagine this system producing another Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Secretary Condoleezza Rice, or Justice Clarence Thomas. Where hope no longer exists, it is impossible to dream.

It’s time for all Americans to come together, united around our love and our desire to protect our children, to push back this rising tide. We have no illusions about our country. It’s not perfect. But it is at its best when parents are free to raise their children to love God and to love one another.

Our children deserve a fair chance to obtain the skills to understand our complex history, to understand the heroic figures who have helped move our country forward, and to dream of a future where they can succeed, regardless of the color of their skin.

That’s why I’m calling on everyone who cares about our children to join me on August 31, 2024, on the National Mall for the March for Kids. Setting aside our political or cultural differences, we can unite instead in love for our children and a commitment to nurturing their dreams.

It’s time we remind those who would divide us, once again, that we are one nation, under God.