The last movie that TNT played as a part of their “May the 4th Be With You” Star Wars Marathon was the film “Rogue One.” Set just before the events of episode IV: A New Hope, the film’s plot centers around a young galactic misfit by the name of Jyn, played by actress Felicity Jones. The story essentially revolves around a desperate attempt made by Jyn and the rest of the Rebel Alliance to steal the Death Star plans from the clutches of the Evil Empire in order to save the galaxy from tyranny and genocide. Along the way, Jyn transforms from a reluctant criminal forced to work for the Rebel Alliance to an empowered leader who is actively and willfully doing everything she can to help defeat the Empire.

One of the most notable lines of the film was when one of Jyn’s fellow rebel agents says to her (after her father gets killed), “Suddenly the Rebellion is real for you! I have been in this fight since I was six years old! We don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing when and where we get to fight…you’re not the only one who lost everything.”

Personally, I could relate to everything he said as though I were Jyn. Before coming to prison, I had never thought much for civil rights and I thought even less for incarcerated citizens and prison reform. Before coming to prison, none of those things were my problem; I was simply a government worker who was sheltered from many of the harsh realities of our society. Only after I lost my career and my privileges did I wake up to the harsh realities of our world. While I’m not going to compare our nation to the genocidal organization that is the Evil Empire in Star Wars, I will compare the people who are fighting for civil liberties at a national and international level to the Rebel Alliance.

The Rebel Alliance in our world is not currently fighting a conventional war against oppression, the rebellion in our world is advocating against social injustices and corrupt systems/institutions that exist in all societies. Rebels are those who stand up to the unjust status quo at any level – personal, interpersonal, cultural, societal, national or international. In other words, the Rebel Alliance I see can be embodied by an artist who draws something real, meaningful and truthful that refuses to censor himself in order to abdicate themselves to an external group. A rebel could be a kid who, after years of being bullied, decides to one day stand up for himself. Likewise, a rebel could be a black woman who, after being told to go to the back of the bus because of her skin color, refuses to because she knows it’s unjust.

The Empire, on the other hand, can be represented by those people who act as agents of oppression and fear. Individuals that actively work to keep others form expressing themselves or individuals that harass or attempt to disenfranchise those that don’t adhere to their religion or institutional dogmas. Those that adopt the mindset of “obedience without question” are likewise agents of the Empire.

To digress, I was inspired by Rogue One because I see the group of protagonists as symbolic of those rebellious real-world people who question authority and resist injustice. They, in my opinion, are symbolic of the faint hope that we as the human race will one day overcome the oppressiveness embodied in the “Empire.”

In the words of Jyn, “Rebellions are built on hope.”

Thus, let all those who would rebel against their oppressors whether they be a Hong Kong national marching against the tyrannical Communist party in China, a Kurdish tribeswoman fighting religious fanatics in the defense of her people from genocide, or an American woman fighting for equal pay, have hope.