Senator Murray is right.

We will lose this democracy if we do not use our voices.

What happened to Senator Padilla crystallizes the danger in this moment.

In institution after institution, from the law firms to the universities to the Senate itself, and beyond the institutions into our everyday lives—force is being applied to your willingness to speak up and tell the truth about what you are seeing and experiencing.

Sometimes it is physical force. Sometimes it is a threat of physical force, or the online mob descending into your digital life. Sometimes it is the threat to people’s livelihoods and the survival of businesses great and small.

In the face of that danger, all of us, sooner or later, will have to make a choice.

Many of us will just want to avert our eyes, pretend that the danger is not real or not that bad or will soon pass over. And some already see it for what it is, and cower before it.

It’s a dark time. But take heart.

What a privilege it is to be alive and an American at this moment in our history!

What a joy to be able to stand up for what we know is right and best about our beloved country.

To lift our voices and tell the truth.

And do it together.

Thank you, Senator Murray.