Hi friend, this Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time for reflection.

The Reverend’s legacy is that he challenged the status quo and demanded better. He pushed against the systems that many people had accepted as “just the way things are.”

And he believed that if enough people were willing to fight for something better, then over time, the moral arc of our universe would bend toward justice.

I’m here today because people like Dr. King kept fighting.

Without that fight, my dad wouldn’t have been able to get a job as a union worker in Milwaukee and my family wouldn’t have had a path into the middle class.

Without that fight, I wouldn’t have been able to attend college and serve my hometown of Milwaukee in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

And without that fight, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to serve as Wisconsin’s first Black lieutenant governor.

Now, because of that legacy, I’m dreaming a little higher, to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor.

Dr. King understood that every generation has its own fight, and that includes not just racial justice but also economic justice: having the opportunities to receive a quality education, work a stable job, own a home, and start a family.

For too many people, these dreams are out of reach. Dr. King called on us to eliminate poverty and to ensure that resources were not concentrated in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.

All around our state and our country, we see that Dr. King’s work is far from over — there is still so much work to be done.

In this campaign, we have the chance to elect the first Black governor of Wisconsin and deliver a bold vision that truly fights for those who have been left behind. I’m glad to have you in my corner as we embark upon this work together.

Let’s keep up the fight,
Mandela Barnes