Here’s Phillip B. Agnew, executive director of the Dream Defenders, delivering the real State of the Union:

The only way that we can overcome the debilitating deficiencies of our country is through a mass movement of the people. We must be about the business of building power, person by person, corner by corner, block by block. It’s up to us…. The revolution isn’t coming it’s already here. On what side will you stand?

The state of our youth is the state of our union, and as this country continues to fail us in every way imaginable, it’s only proper that we begin to speak up and fight for our own futures. We will be silenced no longer. We will own that our struggles are all interconnected and we stand alongside one another for freedom, justice, equality, peace and love. Some of our elders will scoff. They will laugh. They will call us naïve and misguided. They will tell us our ideas aren’t practical and we need to be more realistic. They will try to deny us a seat at the table.

We will build our own table. We will win.