I’m happy to announce that SB 1342, Rahm Emanuel’s mandatory minimum gun bill, will not be brought up for a vote during this special December session of the General Assembly. After almost a year of consistent opposition from hundreds of individuals and dozens of organizations, SB 1342 will not become Illinois law in 2013.

Legislators are promising to discuss a comprehensive approach to address violence in the Spring session. Proponents of SB 1342 are sure to offer their bill again as a part of the ‘solution’ to violence. Those of us who oppose mandatory minimums should remain vigilant but for today we deserve to exhale and to embrace this development as a win against further criminalization of black & brown young people (in particular). There are and will be other bills and policies to resist but for now SB 1342 won’t be one of them.

It’s difficult for me to express my feelings today. As an organizer, too often, I dwell on the losses while skirting over the wins. Yet it is the wins that make it possible to keep moving forward. It is the wins (no matter how small or ephemeral) that provide the reserves for continued struggle.

I don’t spend most of time standing in the doorway saying ‘no.’ I prefer to work on building the world that I want to live in. But there are times, and SB 1342 was one of those times, when it’s important to stand up and push back against an injustice. Sometimes it’s important to just say ‘no.’

To all of the people who said NO TO HB 2265/SB 1342 over the past year, my profound appreciation. These words by Alice Walker express how I feel about the importance of taking action in the world. I offer them to all of you who acted against SB 1342 with gratitude.

“I have learned to accept the fact that we risk disappointment, disillusionment, even despair, every time we act. Every time we decide to believe the world can be better. Every time we decide to trust others to be as noble as we think they are. And that there might be years during which our grief is equal to, or even greater than, our hope. The alternative, however, not to act, and therefore to miss experiencing other people at their best, reaching toward their fullness, has never appealed to me.”

La lucha continua! But for today I’m just going to say…

and also DANCE!!