Reflecting on Freedom This Fourth of July Weekend
Sunday July 5, 2009
Beer. Barbecue. Fireworks.
Is this how you're celebrating the Fourth of July weekend? Over the years, these items have become staples of the holiday. In 19th century America, however, the political ramifications of independence played a key role in Fourth of July observance.
Nowhere was the meaning of Independence Day stressed more than when abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass reminded the country that millions of Americans remained in bondage on Fourth of July 1852. How could the United States celebrate its freedom when it partook in slavery, Douglass asked during a speech delivered in Rochester, N.Y., on July 5, 1852.
"The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common," he pointed out. "The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. ...This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."¯
Surely, Douglass would be shocked to visit today's America and discover that the country is celebrating its first Fourth of July with a black president in the White House. While Douglass would likely be overwhelmed by such news, there's no disputing that issues of injustice continue to haunt America. For example, 55 years after the landmark Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education mandated that schools integrate, urban schools remain largely populated by low-income black and Latino students. To boot, in the criminal justice system, ethnic minorities continue to be wrongfully convicted at alarming rates and face stiffer sentences than their white counterparts, a point Douglass raised in his speech. Moreover, people of color continue to experience greater rates of unemployment than whites, face housing discrimination and die at higher rates than whites from the same diseases.
As Fourth of July weekend winds down, put down the beer and barbecue, and take some time to reflect on what freedom is and which groups enjoy the most freedoms in America.
Is this how you're celebrating the Fourth of July weekend? Over the years, these items have become staples of the holiday. In 19th century America, however, the political ramifications of independence played a key role in Fourth of July observance.
Nowhere was the meaning of Independence Day stressed more than when abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass reminded the country that millions of Americans remained in bondage on Fourth of July 1852. How could the United States celebrate its freedom when it partook in slavery, Douglass asked during a speech delivered in Rochester, N.Y., on July 5, 1852.
"The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common," he pointed out. "The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. ...This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."¯
Surely, Douglass would be shocked to visit today's America and discover that the country is celebrating its first Fourth of July with a black president in the White House. While Douglass would likely be overwhelmed by such news, there's no disputing that issues of injustice continue to haunt America. For example, 55 years after the landmark Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education mandated that schools integrate, urban schools remain largely populated by low-income black and Latino students. To boot, in the criminal justice system, ethnic minorities continue to be wrongfully convicted at alarming rates and face stiffer sentences than their white counterparts, a point Douglass raised in his speech. Moreover, people of color continue to experience greater rates of unemployment than whites, face housing discrimination and die at higher rates than whites from the same diseases.
As Fourth of July weekend winds down, put down the beer and barbecue, and take some time to reflect on what freedom is and which groups enjoy the most freedoms in America.
Great Blog.
I suspect Mr. Douglass would also be greatly aggrieved and highly shocked by the fact that black on black homicides annually surpass the number of white on black lynchings that occurred throughout the entire course of the U.S. slavery and Jim crow.
And that we as a people tend to focus more attention on the easier racial issues than devote our full and undivided attention to the problem that is robbing our community of so many precious lives and providing legitimizing fuel to the racists’ argument that we are the caricatures portrayed in Birth of a Nation.