This year May Day will continue the historic mass mobilizations for social and economic justice of recent historic No Kings rallies. The original May Day was designed to remember the May 1, 1886 rally in Chicago for the 8-hour day. At that rally more than 300,000 workers from 13,000 businesses walked off their jobs to demand justice for workers.

Several months ago, I grabbed a coffee with a source of mine whose expertise is technology policy. We talked about how bonkers it is that the billionaire leaders of AI companies say they aren’t positive their machines won’t eventually harm humans.

For 55 years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has stood as a beacon of hope, fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to help create a multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive. Today calls for us to maintain our resolve in the face of another fight for justice. We are confident that we will embrace any challenge, and we trust that the many people and organizations who share our commitment to defending civil society will stand with us

A Beacon of Hope in the Fight Against Hate and Extremism

Photographs show Hope and Porsha Ngumezi, left, and Nevaeh Crain. Photos by Danielle Villasana for ProPublica