Frederick Douglass was right

Over 170 years ago, Frederick Douglass gave what I believe was (and is) the most accurate and respectful critique of the United States – “What, to the slave, is the 4th of July? ” (listen to this reading by Ossie Davis).?Multiple truths can exist at the same time with any given topic, event or person.?America’s Independence Day is no exception.

Since Douglass was the most famous orator of the entire 19th century and one of the world's most famous people of this era, he was invited to give a speech for Independence Day. The year was 1852. Slavery still existed, and the political and economic tensions were rising, eventually leading to the Civil War. This entire event is thick with irony since Douglass, a former slave, was invited to speak about America's freedom. Douglass fully leans into the moment and tackles this irony.

Here are some excerpts. His words still give me chills:

"...This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day..."

"...I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon..."

"...Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory..."

"...Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?..."

"...But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!..."

The 4th of July has special meaning for me and I’ve wrestled with its importance and impact nearly all of my life.?My hometown is Charlottesville, Virginia – the land of Thomas Jefferson (the main author of the Declaration of Independence ), and the location of the Unite the Right rally that turned into a deadly riot over the Robert E. Lee statue in 2017.

This excerpt may be the most quoted part of the declaration:?

“…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

This resonates so deeply with my beliefs about basic human rights.?It also deepens my belief that how different social constructs, designed to marginalize groups of people based on physical characteristics, to create privilege for other groups, and to enable consumerism & capitalism, is THE greatest propaganda strategy of the last 500+ years.

I personally wrestle with one of Jefferson’s many multiple truths – his timeless ideas about human rights and freedom, while being a slave owner and fathering multiple children with his slave, Sally Hemings .?

All of America’s founding fathers had multiple truths and complexities happening in their lives.?We all have multiple truths, and this is the complicated reality of the human experience.

Like many of us today, I too will celebrate America’s independence, reflect on my geographical connection to Thomas Jefferson and on my military service as a proud veteran.?As a black man in America, I also will wrestle with and acknowledge my many experiences with marginalization – from the past and present, as well as what is to come. ?"What, to the marginalized, is the 4th of July?"

As I wrestle with these multiple truths with my experience in America, I get hope and inspiration from the African philosophy of Ubuntu – “I am because we are”.?Ubuntu is rooted in the foundation that we all are human beings with a variety of physical characteristics, skills, talents and experiences.?This beautiful array of humanity creates the superpowers needed for us, as a collective, to engage the tremendous challenges facing our existence on earth today.

Frederick Douglass was right.?There are multiple truths around the 4th of July and we should acknowledge and embrace them all.

#frederickdouglass #independenceday #fourthofjuly #thomasjefferson #sallyhemings #ubuntu