By Kavita Das
(In Homage to Frederick Douglass’s “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”)
On July 5, 1852, brilliant orator, fierce abolitionist, and former slave Frederick Douglass gave an impassioned speech entitled “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.” In his speech, Douglass interrogated and excoriated the hypocrisy of Americans to celebrate the seventy-sixth year of their independence while denying the independence and basic humanity of Black Americans through the continuation of American slavery.
“I do not hesitate to declare,” Douglass stated, “with all my soul, that the character and conduct of the nation, never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.”
Douglass goes on to ask his now famous indicting rhetorical question: “What, to the American slave, is the 4th of July?” and he offers a response to his own question, saying, “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.”
One hundred and seventy-three years later, the truth of Douglass’s indictment rings true yet again.
Although “slavery-the great sin and shame of America” was abolished and civil rights were fought for and hard-won through the courage, determination, and sacrifice of Black Americans and their allies, in just the past six months since Donald Trump took office for the second time, so many civil and human rights have been eroded with the rollback of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and policies across every sector.
But probably the most “hideous and revolting” conduct by our current leadership has been around their inhumane and violent raids, detention, and deportation of immigrants at their workplaces and in their communities. We have seen footage of swarms of armed, masked men violently restraining individuals and families, forcing them into unmarked cars, and disappearing them to shadowy detention centers, where they languish or are deported without due process.
This is happening everywhere despite our shock and outrage, and while community and mutual aid organizations have risen up to offer sanctuary and protection to immigrant communities, the very institutions that are supposed to protect the most vulnerable amongst us—churches, the courts, law enforcement—have been largely silent, or worse, complicit.
Douglass noted how the American church establishment, rather than fighting against the moral depravity of slavery, had been complicit: “But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors . . . Many of its most eloquent Divines, who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system.” Similarly, today, immigrants are being arrested on church grounds, and yet we do not hear the vociferous outcry against the cruel and immoral treatment of immigrants by the leaders of American religious establishments. This is particularly ironic given that Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were themselves migrants in search of sanctuary.
Whereas the court of law is meant to be the bastion of ethics and due process, immigrants are being arrested and detained when showing up to their mandated appointments in immigration court. Recently, even Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was violently subdued and detained while accompanying an immigrant to his mandated court appointment. And just days ago, the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled that the federal administration can continue deporting immigrants to proxy detention centers run by countries where they’ve never been.
For his part, Douglass railed against morally bankrupt judges and a court system that upheld slavery, declaring, “Let it be thundered around the world that in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America the seats of justice are filled with judges who hold their offices under an open and palpable bribe, and are bound, in deciding the case of a man’s liberty, to hear only his accusers!”
Despite his impassioned plea to his audience in Rochester, New York, that the inhumane and morally depraved system of slavery be struck down, Frederick Douglass ended his talk “with hope,” saying, “I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery.”
Having witnessed our country’s lack of a true racial justice reckoning over the last several years, I’m deeply saddened but not shocked by how this white supremacist regime has gone about dismantling the building blocks of civil rights and civil society. But just as Douglass managed to find glimmers of hope and maintain faith in the “forces” at work, in this alarming moment, as we mark July Fourth, I’m finding hope in the fact that Zohran Mamdani, a young immigrant and Democratic Socialist has been able to pushback against the Democratic party establishment and corporate-controlled media machine, and win the Democratic mayoral primary in my hometown of New York City by inspiring a broad, diverse, multi-generational base of New Yorkers who support his vision for a more equitable and affordable city. Beyond this, Mamdani has provoked a crucial national conversation about the role of immigrants as not just laborers of this country but also as leaders.
Ultimately, despite the harsh rhetoric and cruel policies of this current administration, I draw faith from Douglass’s own courage to speak truth to power at great peril to himself. I’m inspired by his unwavering conviction in the inevitability of progress given our evolution into an open society in an interconnected world, with immigration as a cornerstone to our democracy and immigrants as indelible to our country’s history, present, and future. “No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable . . . Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.”
About the Author
Kavita Das has taught nonfiction writing at the New School and Catapult and has written about social issues for ten years. Previously, she worked in the social change sector for fifteen years, addressing issues ranging from community and housing inequities to public health disparities and racial injustice. Das is also the author of Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar and Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues. Connect with her online at kavitadas.com.
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