July 4th

Aaaah, we are one day away from the celebrated and anticipated July 4th holiday.  It was created for declaring independence founded in 1776 from the Kingdom of Great Britian.  I have read that the Declaration of Independence wasn't actually signed on the the 4th.  Who knows?  I am not a history scholar so, if I have incorrectly stated any facts, please forgive me.

What I do know is......it is celebrated with cookouts, friends and family, fireworks and government and (I think) private firms offices are closed.  I am looking forward to a grilled hotdog.  That is the only way to eat it with cole slaw and mustard.  I can't wait!!   Oh, and potato rolls.  YUMMY.... but I am also reminded of something else about July 4th.

In African American Literature (Professor Gledy Wareibi) I learned about a speech made addressing the celebration of a freedom in the US and what it meant to the "African American" race who were still under the chains of slavery.  His name was Frederick Douglas.  This is the most famous passage from his speech spoken on July 5, 1852:

"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 cruelty 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 sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, 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 the United States, at this very hour."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927.html

He found the celebration to be hypocrisy. 

Well, enjoy your holiday and celebrate what the day means to you.  Let's meet at the blog again soon.