A year ago I walked across the floor of the Connecticut Supreme Court, our state motto proudly stamped in our highest court in Hartford. Qui transtulit sustinet. It struck me, a first-generation, Greenwich native in his first year of law school as remarkably progressive. He who transplanted sustains. Originally referring to English colonialists bringing over literal and proverbial grapevines, we the people continue to hold high the bright torch of our 380-year-old ethos.
Connecticut leads the charge in the fight to preserve the American rule of law. Whether native to Hartford or Peru, our electeds have answered the call to sustain our democracy. In D.C., U.S. Senator Chris Murphy fervent advocacy is meticulous. Laying out a comprehensive timeline of an unprecedented incidence of corruption, Murphy is a bulwark on the senate floor. Senator Blumenthal has lucidly tracked critical votes and Federal developments, keeping Connecticut in the know amidst unprecedented change.
Speaking at a town hall in Greenwich, CT Attorney General William Tong, fellow first-generation, Connecticut-native, and U.S. House Representative Jim Himes went directly to the people. As attorneys general across the nation prepare for extensive legal battles, AG Tong emphasized the importance of checks, balances and our own civic participation at the local level. As I contemplated writing these very words, Rep. Jim Himes called me into a telephonic town hall with my neighbors. Their message is resoundingly clear—Do not despair. Organize.
I am proud to see our elected officials on the frontlines of this fight. Their efforts, however, should offer us no comfort. Dr. Martin Luther King was arrested for standing up for his beliefs. Writing a letter to generations to come from a jail cell in Birmingham, Dr. King expressed profound disappointment in the moderate “who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’.” We voted for leaders who we believed would stand up for Connecticut. In so doing, we do not cast aside our own responsibility to do the same.
The Constitution State was present for the birth of American democracy. As a second year Harvard Law student, I write home to plead that we continue to sustain the same American values and ideals that I grew up believing in. We live in overwhelming times, but it is not in our nature to sit idle. I am grateful to our senators, our attorney general, my own congressional representative for their example to us. But we all have a role to play. Whether its standing on principle as a corporate law firm, making the tough editorial decisions to ensure the free press remain free, or even donating your time or money to local causes, there is still work to be done.
Don’t despair. Organize.
Andrew Garcia
