Anneshia Hardy | The Hardy Exchange
Sixty years ago, our ancestors walked from Selma to Montgomery, putting their bodies on the line for the right to vote, for the right to be seen, heard, and counted. They knew that democracy wasn’t just given; it had to be demanded. It had to be built. It had to be protected.
And now, in 2025, we find ourselves back in the same fight.
When I stood on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, I didn’t just come to commemorate the past, I came to sound the alarm for the future. Because the attacks on our freedom have never stopped. The tactics have changed, but the mission has always been the same: to silence us, to erase us, to make us believe that we do not have power.
But here’s what they don’t understand
Alabama is ground zero for resistance. This soil has birthed movements that changed this country. And today, we are being called to do it again.
I’m sharing excerpts from my speech below and the video of my full remarks because this message isn’t just for the people who stood with me that day, it’s for all of us.
Toni Morrison told us, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Freedom isn’t just about securing our own safety, our own comfort, it’s about pulling others up with us. And when we reclaim our voices, when we tell our own stories, when we speak truth to power, we don’t just resist oppression, we build pathways to liberation.
And don’t get it twisted, our opposition knows this. That’s why they fight so hard to control the narrative. Malcolm X warned us about this when he said, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
They rewrite history. They distort truth. They manufacture fear. Because they know that controlling the story means controlling the people. But we refuse to be controlled.
Standing on those steps in Montgomery, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement on one hand and the cradle of the Confederacy on the other, I had to name the truth.
This state has always been a testing ground for white supremacy, voter suppression, and attacks on our rights. From literacy tests and poll taxes to voter ID laws and racial gerrymandering, they have never stopped trying to silence us.
When I say white supremacy, I’m not talking about just Klan robes and hate groups, I’m talking about a system that concentrates power in the hands of the few and maintains racial hierarchy through laws, policies, and narratives.
This system. This democracy. It was never built for us.
The chairman of the 1901 Alabama Constitutional Convention, John Knox, said it plainly when he boldly stated that Alabama’s Constitution was designed to “eliminate the ignorant Negro vote and place the control of our government where God Almighty intended it should be— with the Anglo-Saxon race.”
That same energy still fuels the attacks on our voting rights today. But what they don’t realize is that we are built for this fight.
This is the same state where Black people, young, old, working-class, and allies came together and changed the course of history. And today, we are being called to do it again.
The theme of this rally was Reimagining Democracy, and that’s exactly what we have to do.
Because democracy, as it was originally designed, was never meant for us. It was built for white, land-owning men, not for the Black and Brown people who built this nation with our labor, our struggle, and our sacrifice.
But what they fail to understand is that we are a people of imagination. We have always pushed beyond what was given to us. We have always fought to expand the meaning of democracy, to claim what was denied, and to create a system that serves all of us, not just some of us.
So when they tell us that our votes don’t matter, that’s a lie. When they tell us that our voices don’t carry weight, that’s a lie. When they try to keep us exhausted, struggling, divided, and hopeless, that is by design.
People power is not given. It’s taken. It’s built. It’s demanded. Let’s organize. Let’s build. Let’s move. Because history is watching. And the future is ours to shape.
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About the Author
Anneshia Hardy is a narrative strategist, scholar-activist, and social impact entrepreneur committed to leveraging storytelling and messaging for transformative social change. As Executive Director of grassroots communications and media advocacy organizations, Alabama Values and Alabama Values Progress, she leads efforts to strengthen the pro-democracy movement in Alabama and across the South through strategic messaging and digital strategies.
Co-founder of Blackyard LLC, Anneshia equips changemakers to amplify their impact in marginalized communities. With over a decade of experience, she has conducted narrative and messaging trainings for organizations like the NAACP and the Obama Foundation. Anneshia has also shaped strategies for landmark voting rights cases, including Allen v. Milligan. Rooted in the belief that culturally relevant narratives can drive equity and inspire action, she bridges academic insight and real-world advocacy to create lasting change.