This post originally appeared on The Machine Guard - a blog of WorkSafe
by Leonard Brown

Upon my arrival at Reagan International Airport in the Nation’s Capital on March 18, 2025, I was greeted by National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) Executive Director Jessica Martinez, who I was meeting in person for the first time since completing National COSH “We Rise!” Workers Leadership Training and being elected to the Board of NCOSH.

Shortly after meeting Jessica, we were whisked away to the Willard Intercontinental Hotel where I would be on a panel before the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Board of Trustees. After settling into this luxurious hotel rich with “His Story,” located across the street from the White House, Jessica and I met briefly in the hotel lobby to discuss a few talking points. We were there to show the Board the impact of their grant dollars–in my case, the way that the “We Rise” class assisted me in my journey from incarceration to advocacy.

Jessica and I took a walk to the National Mall to honor Dr. King, who was assassinated for fighting for workers’ rights for a safe and fair workplace–almost immediately after he began bringing his powerful advocacy against racial discrimination to speaking about wealth inequality and wage justice.

After paying our respects to Dr. King, Jessica and I took a stroll along the National Mall towards the Lincoln Memorial, remembering the over two hundred thousand men, women and children who had once marched with Dr. King on August 28,1963.

A little known hero of labor rights, A. Philip Randolph formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, the first labor organization led by African Americans. Randolph deserves to be honored for his contributions to labor rights, and we include him alongside Dr. King in the workers rights curriculum we developed at Worksafe. The guiding principles of Worksafe and National COSH were very much on our minds as we reflected on this nation’s history as we entered Lincoln’s Memorial:

We were overwhelmed with a deep sense of reverence for all those who had given their lives for the betterment of mankind. Especially to our black and brown sistas and brothas! However, we were also hit with the grim reality that the White House is currently being occupied by the heirs to the Confederacy — and a harsh crackdown on workers and people of color is underway.

Here you can see me walking the Kellogg Foundation board through my journey from incarceration to advocacy, articulating the significance of each photo, beginning with looking back at San Quentin from the Ferry, to the simple pleasure of picking strawberries with my friend in Santa Maria where I witnessed families of immigrants working hard in the fields, to moving forward as a community organizer for Worksafe and Worker Leader and then Board Member for National COSH. As the poster I’m holding in the photo states, my journey continues to be one of “resiliency, power, and transformation.”

This poster makes me think of Public Enemy’s song “Fight the Power.” Brené Brown says that we write our own stories. Trump is a bully who has weaponized the government against the people. However, we don’t have to sit by and watch. We will not be bullied. We will not be silenced. As Brené Brown says, “We are the authors of our lives. We write our own daring endings.”

What will the human cost of the Trump presidency be? He has already begun to remove rights from marginalized people, one group at a time–students here on visas who spoke out against Israel’s actions in Gaza; “gang members” who were given no due process before being sent to a torture camp in El Salvador.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

— Martin Niemöller

If one person can have due process removed, all of us can be stripped of due process. May we learn from history and each stand up to tyranny.