“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.”
Fredrick Douglas
Did you ever notice that people rarely say Independence Day but instead opt for “The 4th of July” or more condensed, “The 4th”? Which ever acknowledgement you choose it is always preceded by Happy…
On July 5th Fredrick Douglass delivered a speech in Rochester, New York, (Watch the moving delivery by a few of his young descendants here.) entitled “What to The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?” The juxtaposition of Juneteenth and July 4th, now both National holidays, challenges us to examine meaning of celebration. Do and should both holidays be celebrated with the same exuberance? Should Black people celebrate the birth of a nation which excluded us? Should white people celebrate and honor Juneteenth by acknowledging why it is considered our “Independence Day”?
Douglass said, “The hypocrisy of the nation has been exposed.” One hundred and sixty-nine years ago. To some, the hypocrisy is even more evident today. To some, there was no insurrection…
