The Fourth of July has come and gone. Shards of fireworks have been swept away, the smell of cordite lingers in the air and there remains a few booms echoing in the distance. We can let Frederick Douglass rest again until next year, when once more we will invoke his powerful words about the nation’s unrelieved hypocrisy.
It’s a shame we can’t make his admonishments last beyond a day or two, and even more disappointing is that time is not set aside to review his other speeches, the more radical ones about “power concedes to nothing without a demand” or his “Men of Color to Arms!” a rallying cry to allow African-Americans to be their own agents of liberation during the Civil War.
Citing and reciting Douglass’s 1852 speech about “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” is akin to Americans resorting to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, thereby freezing the great thinker and civil rights activist in 1963. King, like Douglass, delivered several more militant calls for freedom and justice, especially his jeremiad against the war in Vietnam.
Of course, it is never an either/or proposition, but a both/and when it comes to the inspirational words of these two American icons. But we are concerned that the media has commandeered these two speeches, forging them in amber and robbing them of their essences, commodifying them as they have done with Kwanzaa.
During a recent radio show, the host asked the guest historian if we should celebrate the Fourth. He answered yes, and explained that the day should be a day of rest and reflection for the often beleaguered working class, who have few amenities to enjoy. In fact, he said there should be more such days—with pay!
We share that sentiment, and in doing so we recall the actress back in February who felt that Black History Month should be eliminated. That was wrongheaded and absurd at a time when we need more moments to dwell on the past, contemplate the present and prepare for the future.
It was nice to read a piece that extolled the witness and wisdom of James Baldwin, thoughtfully noting the author’s undying love for America and his right to “perpetually criticize it.”
The Fourth of July for most Americans is a time of patriotic zeal and celebration, and Baldwin gives the day his own unique interpretation without losing any of his passionate resolve to set the record straight.
This weekend of celebration is somewhat muted for us who knew Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. Brown, as one of our noted community leaders observed, was a “true American hero,” who died as the nation prepared the bunting, parades and fireworks. As a Tuskegee Airman he risked his life as a fighter pilot during World War II, bravely shooting down faster German jets. And then came home from the war to become one of the country’s leading educators.
Yes, there’s Douglass, Dr. King,and Baldwin, but add the Tuskegee Airman to that list of honorees, and the Fourth of July is given deeper meaning, given a more personal and an immediate way to remember our sacrifices and dedication to protect a nation that has promised so much and delivered so little.
There are precious days beyond the Fourth of July, beyond Juneteenth, beyond Black History Month, and taken together, they are still not enough for us to recount all that we have done to make America great.