Hello, Freedom Writers!
In Today’s Post:
Fellow citizens, pardon me ...
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Hello, Freedom Writers!
Fellow citizens, pardon me ...
We are all products of our culture, for better or for worse. I, myself, have to recognize this every day. There’s no shame in it, except the shame in not even trying to transcend your culture when you find an aspect of it that is unjust. And as a member of the White Immigrant American culture, I’ve discovered several said aspects.
Here’s one that I learned about a few years ago. It stuck with me.
On July 5th, 1852, Fredrick Douglass gave a speech entitled, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
It was a stirring speech that many African Americans are familiar with today, but regrettably, most members of the White Immigrant American culture are not familiar with.
Noteably, Douglass delivered this speech 9 years prior to the Civil War, which began in 1861, but only 4 months after the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in March of 1852. (More on that in a later post.)
It was a speech that eloquently and diplomatically reminded the White Immigrant American abolitionists in his audience that while their COUNTRY stood for freedom in word and constitution, it did NOT stand for freedom in practice. Instead, in fact, the United States enslaved captive Africans in the worst kind of slavery on the planet: chattle slavery. So, what, truely, was there for a chattle slave to celebrate?
Fast forward to today: July 5th of 2025, here in our United States of America, we are seeing private prisons designed to replicate slave plantations, and detention centers designed to replicate concentration camps.
So, if you’re a member of the White Immigrant American culture, today’s action is this: simply watch this beautifully done 7 minute video about Fredrick Douglass’s speech, and share this post with all the White Immigrant Americans you know.
The more that see it the better.
Thank you for helping us save our democracy,
EBFreed and BillyJ
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Thanks for sharing this. I watched the speech as well as the commentary from the Douglass family, and am very glad I did. So much to contemplate! ☮️
Thanks for sharing this powerful re-reading of Alfred Douglas’ great, profound, and sadly currently and continuinly relevant words.