"Independence" Day
July 4, 2007 – 9:38 amWhat, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. -Frederick Douglass
Before anyone gets in a tizzy, no I am not saying black people in America are still slaves. What I am saying is that Independence of my ancestors did not occur on the day that is being celebrated today. I am also pointing out that some of that quote still holds true, in different forms, today.
Enjoy the fireworks.
One Response to “"Independence" Day”
I was makin’ similar comments to Planet Wifey about this as well — also, living in Boston, you’d think our fireworks would be off-the-chain, but, they aren’t! Keep people talking, E. Keep em’ talkin’.
By Clarence on Jul 4, 2007