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What, to the American Slave,
Is Your Fourth of July?
by Frederick Douglass
July 5, 1852
Mr. President, Friends and Fellow
Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has
stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a
speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my
ability, than I do this day.
A feeling has crept over me,
quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task
before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper
performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat
and unmeaning.
I trust, however, that mine will
not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much
misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings,
in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion.
The papers and placards say, that
I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. This certainly sounds large, and out of
the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in
this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence.
But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of
Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment.
The fact is, ladies and
gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from
which I escaped, is considerable-and the difficulties to be overcome in getting
from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is,
to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude.
You will not, therefore, be
surprised, if in what I have to say. I evince no elaborate preparation, nor
grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little experience and with
less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly
together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed
to lay them before you.
Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. They
succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. The freedom gained
is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th
of July is the first great fact in your nation's history-the very ring-bolt in
the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny.
They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to
peaceful submission to bondage. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink
from agitating against oppression. They showed forbearance; but that they knew
its limits. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. With them,
nothing was "settled" that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and
humanity were "final"; not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the
memory of such men. They were great in their day and generation. Their solid
manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate
times.
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?
Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I
hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday,
are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If
I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow
this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the
roof of my mouth!"
What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is
not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are
mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be
divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The
time for such argument is past.
What, 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 cruelly 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 denunciations 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 these
United States, at this very hour.
At
the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and
religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of
their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs
religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world
lying in wickedness.
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By Kennedy
Taylor
Guest Columnist
June 30, 2015
In a
report entitled "Education Pays 2013: The Benefits of Higher Education for
Individuals and Society," data shows the value of race, gender, and education
level as it pertains to earning potential and societal benefits such as civic
involvement, voting, and parent/child involvement.
With relatively little
variance, the greatest predictor of individual earning potential is education
level. The study found that if an individual has a bachelor's degree they will,
on average, earn between $39,500 and $57,600, a span of $18,100. On the other
hand, an individual with less than a high school diploma can expect average
annual earnings between $18,300 and $29,200, a span of $10,900.
The data
from this report shows that race and gender also hold value as to where an
individual might fall within the span of their educational level indicator. Of
those, with less than a high school diploma, a Hispanic female is likely to fall
at the lowest end of the earning spectrum earning an average of $18,300
annually.
A black female would, on average, earn $19,300 annually. A
white female holding less than a high school diploma could expect to earn $21,
800. Hispanic males holding less than a high school diploma earn an average of
$22,700. By comparison, a black male of the same education level earns an
average of $25,200 and a white male holding less than a high school diploma on
average earns $29,200.
Similar earning patterns exist across every
education level. The overall earning window increases with each increase of
educational level achieved, but the spread within that window show that women
are on average at the lower end while men are at the upper end.
The
report offered no explanation for the pattern, leaving the reader to draw his or
her own conclusions.
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'Army of Moms' Starts Patrolling South Side
After Shooting
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Tamar Manasseh of Mothers
Against Senseless Killings is hoping to to break the violent cycle of
retaliatory violence in Englewood by restoring some of the power of parents.
DNAinfo/Sam
Cholke)
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By Sam
Cholke
June 30,
2015
CHICAGO/ENGLEWOOD - An army of
mothers started patrolling their neighborhood on Monday, gathering on corners
after a shooting.
Mothers Against Senseless
Killings volunteers in pink shirts were sitting in folding chairs and leaning
against a mailbox at 75th Street and Harvard Avenue on Monday, hoping to prevent
a violent retaliation after the death of Lucille Barnes a week ago.
"People are very emotional about
it, and we don't know what's going to happen," said Tamar Manasseh. "If people
say there will be violence, there likely will be violence, and you go where
you're called."
According to police, a man walked
by Barnes and two other women at 11:35 p.m. on June 23 in the 7500 block of
Stewart Avenue and opened fire, fatally wounding 34-year-old
Barnes.
Manasseh mobilized the group for
the first time after the shooting on the gamble that even the most embittered
and determined on vengeance would not shoot under the glare of a motherly eye
- let alone 15 sets of maternal eyes.
"If you're trying to shoot
someone and we're out here, you're not getting off the block," said Manasseh,
who grew up on the northern edge of Englewood at Garfield Boulevard and Bishop
Street.
The group plans to plant itself
on the corner for four hours, beginning at from 4 p.m., and return every day
until Labor Day.
The group brought grills and hot
dogs, but no police. The idea was to show in unmistakable terms that the message
to would-be shooters is coming from within the community.
"When you let a bunch of
16-year-olds run the world, this is what it looks like," Manasseh said.
The Mothers Against Senseless
Killings view is that guns are a symptom of a bigger problem: Parents have given
up their authority to their children and now fear them when after seeing what
teens will do with that power.
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Liberated Minds Black
Homeschool & Education
Expo
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Queen Taese - Homeschool
Parent/Educator Executive Committee Director for The Liberated Minds
Expo
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Hotep Family,
Much
love and strength to you and your families! I am honored to be in the position
to assist in the organization of The 2015 Liberated Minds Expo. Creating a
sacred space for the cultivation of our Afrikan children & families is
critical because this is an incredible opportunity for us homeschoolers,
parents, & educators to study, embrace, and implement powerful
SOLUTIONS!
I take this very
seriously and with a high level of integrity. NO MORE KILLING OUR SONS &
DAUGHTERS through the myriad of mediums that have been created to destroy our
culture and mere existence. We are taking full control of our
destiny!
As we forge into our 4th year with some amazing
accomplishments under our belt, we are diligently working to provide the
mandatory education and resources for Afrikans by Afrikans! I welcome you to
STEP INTO YOUR TRUE POWER! Try it on. I am sure it will fit you well.
Infinite Love & Prosperity to you all!
ABIBIFAHODIE! (Afrikan Liberation),
Queen Taese
Click Here to Learn More About the 4th
Annual Liberated Minds Black Homeschool & Education Expo.
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Press Release
National African-American Reparations Commission (NAARC)
Sends Urgent Letter to Obama
Calls on him to establish the 'John Hope Franklin
Commission on Reparatory Justice'
In the wake of the recent
massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, the National African-American
Reparations Commission (NAARC) is calling on President Obama to issue an
executive order that establishes a Commission on Reparatory Justice to address
white supremacy "in all of its individual, institutional and structural
manifestations."
The letter describes white
supremacy and racism as "a deadly disease" that remains deeply imbedded in the
American psyche and the social, economic and political fabric of US society.
The
National African-American Reparations Commission (NAARC) is comprised of eminent
black leaders from the legal, academic, health and faith-based communities
across the country.
NAARC is requesting that
President Obama name the Commission in honor of the esteemed historian and
academic Dr. John Hope Franklin who had chaired President Bill Clinton's
Commission on Race some 22 years ago. "In honor of Dr. Franklin's
100th birthday, we call upon you to have the vision to create a commission on
reparatory justice in his name. This is only fitting as it also offers an
opportunity to complete the unfinished work of President Clinton's Commission on
Race", states the letter.
Dr. Ron Daniels, convenor of the
NAARC and President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), said
that from Ferguson to Baltimore to Charleston, this most recent period has
revealed that white supremacy is alive and well in the United States.
"As you have related, Mr.
President, despite progress since the era of enslavement, Jim Crow and de fact
discrimination/segregation the 'badges and indicia' of the long-standing
exploitation and oppression of people of African descent are reflected in the
devastating disparities in health, education, housing, employment, economic
development, wealth and incarceration rates which harm large numbers of Black
people each and every day in this land of enormous opportunity," the letter
states.
A
Luta Continua - The Struggle Continues
Kamm Howard Amos N Wilson
Institute GB2B N'COBRA www.ncobra.org"Power concedes
nothing without a demand." Frederick Douglass Black Is Back Coalition
Blackisbackcoalition.org
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Teaching Black Males to Read Well Is The Most
Powerful Action That Black America Can Take
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Left to Right ) Yosef Israel, Carlson
Ayanjaya (rear),
Maalik Henderson (front), Jordan Dunn,
Jazz Dunn, Shemuel Yisrael.
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Listen to young Black men read and discuss
Nelson Mandela, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Carter G. Woodson, Frederick Douglass
and Sojourner Truth. Click Here to hear outstanding reading
and excellent discussion on these great Black heroes! Do you want a
revolution??? It starts with teaching Black males to read well. Please share
this program with other young Black men. Please call 773.285.9600 if you want
to contribute to young Black males reading well or Click Here to contribute or
send your support to: The Black Star Project, 3509 South King Drive,
Suite 2B, Chicago, Illinois
60653.
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Word
of the Day
From The Black
Star Learning Center
Zeitgeist - [tsahyt-gahyst],
noun
(German).
the spirit, attitude, or general
outlook
of a specific
time or period, esp as it is reflected in literature, philosophy, etc.
2. The taste,
outlook,
and spirit characteristic of a period or generation.
Example of
use - Advertisers, who after all make their living gauging the Zeitgeist, were
not slow in responding.
(Word shared
by Marc Sims)
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20th Anniversary
Million Man March 2015
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