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More powerful than any law, executive order or court decision is the culture of equality fashioned by the words to be found in that Declaration. It is that culture of equality � a belief that all Americans are not only equal in the eyes of God but equal in the eyes of the government � that binds us and unites us as one people "indivisible." Should a significant segment of the people lose faith in the principles contained in the document that represents the social contract we have with each other, that culture of equality will erode and America will cease to be a nation that promises and delivers "liberty and justice for all." It is not the law that unites people; it is trust. Friendships are forged, marriages are sustained, currencies are valued, and governments survive on the basis of trust. The Court's UM decisions tear at our sense of trust in our government. The time for America to break free from its obsession with classifying and dividing her citizens by "race" has come. And the popular revolt will begin in the state of Michigan where a national effort must be mounted to prohibit the university and all other entities of government from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any American citizen because of "race," ethnic background, sex or national origin. It must begin in California where Americans are blending at an astounding rate and defy the rigid categories of "race" imposed by the government. And the battle must be waged in every other state where the people have the right to petition their government and to enact laws through such a process. We must strain every sinew and muster every ounce of courage to negate this unjust decision. Let us declare anew our devotion to equal treatment and defend that principle against those � even the Supreme Court of the United States � who would deprive us of it.

Connerly is the founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute and the author of the autobiography Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences.