And on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Remarkable, with all we’ve endured since 2016, I approach my 64th birthday this month a far less cynical person than I was in ‘75 when I graduated from high school. Why? I’ve been moved by the intelligence, commitment, and character of my countrymen in this fight: Sally Yates, the House Impeachment Managers all, Anthony Fauci, Alexander Vindman, Fiona Hill, Stacey Abrams, Pres. Biden, Marc E. Elias, and you Dr. Richardson. Thank you and happy Independence Day.
Thank you for naming people of integrity and substance. I am so tired of reading and hearing the names of people who lack such qualities. We all know who they are.
Fern, your adding names of those who inspire you is welcome. Your being negative and criticizing, not so much. ADAM SCHIFF, ADAM SCHIFF, ADAM SCHIFF. Is everyone good now? (and FYI, I contribute regularly to him).
R David, I intended no criticism of you, simply responding to the interest of MaryB in seeing Schiff's name, and I added Raskin's, too. I am sorry that you saw my replies in a negative light. As indicated that was not my intention.
One more point, the use of 'say his name' in my reply concerning Adam Schiff was mimicking the call in the demonstrations on behalf of George Floyd and others to 'say his name'. It would have been clearer for me to have used quotation marks. That phrase was not written to find fault with your comment. I hope that my explanations can satisfy your dissatisfaction.
Thank you David. I feel better having read your words and to realize that a glass can be half full and we need to look toward inspiring individuals and not fixate on those who seek to diminish others to burnish themselves. Happy 4th to you and yours.
So let's get to work refilling it, then making and filling more glasses (all the same size) and making sure that people who don't even have a glass get a nice full one.
Great point. I will call this to mind when I am feeling hopeless or cynical. We still have many, many good people in this country who believe in the founding aspirations, and that good will prevail.
I am very glad about that Fern. He has amazing ability to process a great amount of information and sort it appropriately. I also was very impressed with Stacey E Plaskett, rep from US Virgin Islands during impeachment hearing. She can speak an argument very well.
I did wave at noon. Hope you were free as a bird today. Ran into some bad, territorial humor. Explaining made matters worse. Thanks for winking in my direction.
The moment of Amanda (at the inaugural) seemed to me to personify perfectly what artistry can capture to make the words "created equal" live. She inspired me to write this:
"Of a Poet"
I thought of a poet,
{on a day of poetry}
oddly, on display;
as if emerging,
from shackles shared...
suppressed
in our hearts
a hidden truth
{ echoes of: Guthrie:Simone:Lincoln:Seamus}
and
Amanda,
a rising Oshun
a risen sun
a red band cradles the mind on a woman who shatters our
That, would be remarkable. I'm not sure how to do that...Ah, AndreaH, all my life I've been given an extra vowel, no worries! It's from Haydn the composer.
Your words captured and expressed EXACTLY what I saw, heard and felt. Thank you! I copied her poem and added it to my art journal, with a little red ribbon as that "band" you describe. But the "dancing hands" and "lilting melody a voice surely not of this world" could not be as well placed into a visual memory.
Christine, I’m humbled. Thank you. And of course you can share. It is not published. It was such a moving moment. She made me feel —-hope—-as I had not felt for so long.
I know. I felt the same, Haydn. It is the vision that I hold of our young people in this country. They are so progressive and unapologetic of it. I believe they will be the force that lead us to victory in the fight to keep our Democracy and our Earth vibrant.
From my own 4th of July post over at That's Another Fine Mess:
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, when they sat down and argued what to say in the Declaration of Independence, may have had a much different understanding their words and goal when they said “all men are created equal,” but the moment it was said, the moment it was written, it was never going to be limited to white males of property. Every person who ever read it or heard it said “Yeah, that’s for me” And that’s why for the past 245 years people have come here, and why people have striven to make that true. This is the only country founded on a revolutionary ideal, the ideal of equality of all. There are those who say the French and Russian Revolutions were more “authentic” revolutions, but millions of people didn’t risk everything after those events to go to the land of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or the land where the workers of the world had nothing to lose but their chains. They’ve come here, and by their coming every year, they keep the dream alive, because they arrive with it in their hearts.
On June 24, 1826, the 50th year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, former President and author of the Declaration, 83 year old Thomas Jefferson, was asked by Roger Weightman to come to Washington D.C. to participate in the celebration of the anniversary. He was in declining health (he and John Adams would both die 10 days later on that day of days), and wrote to apologize for not being able to accept the offer. Fifty years later, he had come to see some of the larger meaning of the words he and John Adams and the other members of the committee who had been charged to write the Delaration had put to paper.
He wrote:
“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of god. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”
So far, we have been able - with many delays and detours - to stick to that path. The greatest threat to that revolutionary dream stands tall around us today, which makes this Fourth of July one of the most important since the day the words “all men are created equal” were first heard. It’s our belief in that revolutionary dream that is why we are involved politically and socially as we are. We may not have achieved the ideal, we may never completely do so, but if we fail to stand for it now, it will be lost, possibly forever.
I did, and the whole piece is well worth the time. This is the antithesis of the entropy that CynthiaW discussed and will be the future of the country if enough of us actively live and support that dream.
Beautiful, TC. Thanks for sharing this. I especially liked what you wrote about how “they’ve come here, and by their coming every year, they keep the dream alive, because they arrive with it in their hearts.” Today is an emotional one for me.
Thank you. This one sentence will bolster me through the dark times: "They’ve come here, and by their coming every year, they keep the dream alive, because they arrive with it in their hearts." I don't know what led my own ancestors here, but it is clear that they did arrive with a dream in their hearts and I'm here because of it and them.
The U.S. immigration and border control department in the early 1900s classified people by Race of Irish, French, etc. Look for immigration records for your ancestors.
I was born in 1943 and grew up in what was then rural New Jersey. This was before the interstate highways and the 55 miles to New York took two and a half hours. New Jersey was almost as segregated as Mississippi with unwritten "rules" about where "colored" could eat or sit. The proposition of equality for women and those of different races and non-Christians was indeed open to question; one that would be decided upon on a case-by-case basis depending upon the way we "fit in" and met the expectations of our places in society. Could we strive and succeed financially? Yes, if we were careful. Could we join the golf club or swim in the public pool? No, that was asking too much but there was a lake down the road and a tree behind which one could change one's clothes. Things have changed, mostly for the better. As Dr. King said, "the arch of history bends towards justice." We are now in the midst of an American silly season. Here's to the hope that in the next year or two we will all be too busy and will ignore the grifter in chief and his henchmen.
I too was born in 1943, and fully recall what you've described. I am Black and in the 60's, joined in the various protests on the then status quo of things: war, racism, poverty, general unfairness. The past four plus years brought me to near hopelessness and deep anger. However, millions of people rose to say "No!" to that period, and to assert that the principles of equality, fairness, access and diversity, across the spectrum, are still the values we'll fight for. And so, I'll continue marching on in this peculiar challenge that must be overcome.
Howard, I was born a generation later and also grew up in NJ, in a new (at the time) suburban community full of people, many at first military families whose dads were being shipped from Ft Dix and Maguire AFB to Vietnam, who were breaking out of the urban messes of Camden and Trenton for the first time. So I suspect roughly the same part of Jersey. I witnessed the slow transformation of the state from one that was split into three parts--the urban communities, the rural farmlands and Pine Barrens, and the coastal region--into a throbbing megalopolis linking NYC to Philadelphia. My great-grandfather, an immigrant who fled the pogroms of what is now Ukraine (it was the Russian Empire then), built the first big suburbs across the river from NYC--the "Oranges"--in the 1920s. Although he started as a bricklayer (a real mason!), with very little English and no real education, he pushed hard to create a career and fortune for himself and a future for his family, one that would have been impossible in Russia. His sons fought in the war, and one died on D-Day. At no time was this Jewish family welcomed by the WASP elite. He drank with his Irish and Italian employees, welcomed my father, a Greek-American, into the family (he, too, was shunned in college by the WASP elites and found friends in the Jewish fraternities and organizations), got the cold shoulder from the wannabe leaders of the synagogue he helped to build because he was too "ethnic" and too liberal in his politics.
What a lovely tribute to your father. The last part of it makes me sad while it makes me realize that even among those that are disallowed from "whitestream" society the discriminated against go on and discrimimnate against others. We see that in appalling clarity as the Israeli government does to the Palestinians what was done to them in WW2.
Linda, your story sounds like mine. I grew up on Long Island, New York. My grandfather was also a bricklayer, (a real mason). He came to the US in 1913. He and my grandmother built a life that, according to my grandfather, they never could have had in Italy. They sent three of their five sons to fight in WWII, and their youngest son to Korea. They were proud to be citizens of this country, and said so frequently. Their grandchildren were successful. I’ve always been so proud of them.
Is it human nature to chose an enemy to fight and someone to dismiss? Groups that should be united to protect each other and blossom, break into splinters of wannabe winners.
One of those groups lined up with Vlad who wants to destroy us from the inside out, the other group just wants peace and love for everyone. The ones choosing peace and love just want Vlad’s group to stop obstructing progress towards peace and love and a verdant life with their lies and thievery
An apt time to reprise the entire quote which, being a theologian, Dr. King used and which is attributed to him. They are the words of the humanist theologian Theodore Parker:
"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."
A century later, attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.
Is this the same Theodore Parker who said, “Southern Slavery is an institution that is in earnest. Northern Freedom is an institution that is not in earnest.”? This to me is the most provocative quote of the pre-civil war era.
Yes - he was an abolitionist, transcendentalist and all-around brilliant, fascinating man. Abraham Lincoln used his "of the people, by the people, for the people." Parker was one of the first women's suffragists and the first to name God father and mother.
I am not familiar with T. Parker, but I think he was pointing to the Southern willingness to kill and die to have free. forced labor forever. The Northern conscience was not as firm about eliminating free, forced labor because the profit margin looked better without wages.
Again, I suggest reading about Theodore Parker. He was an abolitionist and much more. He also held Christian exceptionalism up to a critical light, for example.
"the profit margin looked better without wages." Um...wasn't that the whole reason the South wanted slavery forever? Their entire economy was based on it. The Northern economy wasn't.
Why confused? Just look up Theodore Parker. He was a theologian and an abolitionist who had a profound influence on the future path of the Unitarian Universalist church. His critique of church in general led him to disavow the institution as Christianity was/is seen. If you happen to be around West Roxbury, Mass, you can visit the Theodore Parker Unitarian Church.
Spend 7 minutes with descendants of Frederick Douglass on the Fourth of July:
“At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be startled. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.”
Mr. Douglass spoke at rallies just a few miles from where we live. I take folks on URR tours due to so many locations that were stations on the URR hosted by area Quakers. Possibly over 2,000 self-emancipated people passed through here. Yet, it's so important to read William Still's book, "The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts" to understand that Black folks assisted way more self-emancipated people than did the Quakers. The Society of Friends (Quakers) did own human beings early on, yet they decided it was so wrong that they changed their ways. They visited fellow Quakers who still enslaved people and some were made to leave the Society over that. It always makes me think of Maya Angelou's often quoted saying that when they knew better, they did better. May we all be like that.
Thanks, Ellie. Pennsylvania which surrounds us with history. The State legislature is controlled by Republicans, but we do have Governor Wolf who is a Democrat and the admirable Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Lots of work ahead of us.
Perfect, just perfect, Ellie. Thank you for this. I listened to The Rachel Maddow show the other day about how Frederick Douglas was sent to Mount Misery (the property that Donald Rumsfeld bought later on), a place singularly designed to “break” slaves. Douglas was sent there by his “owner”for a year, I believe, because he had too much spirit. He was whipped and tortured and worked nearly to death, and in his writings he speaks about being, indeed, nearly broken mentally and physically, his soul tormented. But he miraculously survived intact and went on to become one of our most distinguished leaders. What he endured and what he modeled for us, with his eloquent and stirring words, are the perfect allegory for us today. In a way, it feels as if we, as a nation, are in a kind of slumber and need to be awakened, and quick. We need a Frederick Douglas to travel the country, speaking and rousing us to action. His impassioned words are just as relevant and must be heeded in this moment.
Thank you, Pam. I did not know about Mount Misery and Frederick Douglass' suffering and endurance there that was beyond the "normal" experience of enslaved people.
Frederick Douglass does continue to speak as we relay his writings and experience via social media.
Remarkable, with all we’ve endured since 2016, I approach my 64th birthday this month a far less cynical person than I was in ‘75 when I graduated from high school. Why? I’ve been moved by the intelligence, commitment, and character of my countrymen in this fight: Sally Yates, the House Impeachment Managers all, Anthony Fauci, Alexander Vindman, Fiona Hill, Stacey Abrams, Pres. Biden, Marc E. Elias, and you Dr. Richardson. Thank you and happy Independence Day.
Thank you for naming people of integrity and substance. I am so tired of reading and hearing the names of people who lack such qualities. We all know who they are.
"We all know who they are." Did I land in Germany in 1933?
Add my congressman, Adam Schiff, to the list.
He’s already in there. He was an Impeachment Manager. I was thinking of him when I said that.
I read it too quickly, David. Happy 4th to you!
but R David, didn't say his name, ADAM SCHIFF, also a member of the Commission to investigate January 6th insurrection.
Write your own post.
Are you objecting to me adding a note or two to yours? It is not uncommon to reply in that manner.
Fern, your adding names of those who inspire you is welcome. Your being negative and criticizing, not so much. ADAM SCHIFF, ADAM SCHIFF, ADAM SCHIFF. Is everyone good now? (and FYI, I contribute regularly to him).
R David, I intended no criticism of you, simply responding to the interest of MaryB in seeing Schiff's name, and I added Raskin's, too. I am sorry that you saw my replies in a negative light. As indicated that was not my intention.
One more point, the use of 'say his name' in my reply concerning Adam Schiff was mimicking the call in the demonstrations on behalf of George Floyd and others to 'say his name'. It would have been clearer for me to have used quotation marks. That phrase was not written to find fault with your comment. I hope that my explanations can satisfy your dissatisfaction.
Say hi to the Gamble House for me. Huge Arts and Crafts movement fan here.
Thank you David. I feel better having read your words and to realize that a glass can be half full and we need to look toward inspiring individuals and not fixate on those who seek to diminish others to burnish themselves. Happy 4th to you and yours.
Whenever I hear that expression, I am moved to wonder if the glass is the wrong size.
I’m loving today’s comments.
Mara, seen on a tee shirt - "Those who think the glass is half empty miss the point. The glass is refillable."
So let's get to work refilling it, then making and filling more glasses (all the same size) and making sure that people who don't even have a glass get a nice full one.
Now thats a great tee shirt!!
Love it! Here's a link, followed by a snarky version!
https://pin.it/70P1kNE
https://pin.it/316LHOu
Great point. I will call this to mind when I am feeling hopeless or cynical. We still have many, many good people in this country who believe in the founding aspirations, and that good will prevail.
100%!
I’m the same age and feel the same as you express here.
Impeachment Manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Representative for Maryland’s 8th District also on the Commission to investigate January 6th insurrection.
I am very glad about that Fern. He has amazing ability to process a great amount of information and sort it appropriately. I also was very impressed with Stacey E Plaskett, rep from US Virgin Islands during impeachment hearing. She can speak an argument very well.
I did wave at noon. Hope you were free as a bird today. Ran into some bad, territorial humor. Explaining made matters worse. Thanks for winking in my direction.
I did feel free today. 😉
and your spirit flies...
Grateful for every one of them!
We need to speak these names as often as possible. Thank you.
“For there is always light, if we are only brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it.”
The Hill We Climb
by Amanda Gorman.
From the Inaugural poem for the inauguration of President Joe Biden. “A skinny black girl descended from slaves…”
Today is a perfect day to reflect once again on the words written and recited by Amanda Gorman.
Text
http://contentmanager.med.uvm.edu/docs/the_hill_we_climb/vccyf-documents/the_hill_we_climb.pdf?sfvrsn=44a33335_2
Video
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz4YuEvJ3y4
Thank you, she was at the top of my mind to spray as well, in the “hope is here” section.
Spray? Sorry, need to read first, post second.
Yes.
The moment of Amanda (at the inaugural) seemed to me to personify perfectly what artistry can capture to make the words "created equal" live. She inspired me to write this:
"Of a Poet"
I thought of a poet,
{on a day of poetry}
oddly, on display;
as if emerging,
from shackles shared...
suppressed
in our hearts
a hidden truth
{ echoes of: Guthrie:Simone:Lincoln:Seamus}
and
Amanda,
a rising Oshun
a risen sun
a red band cradles the mind on a woman who shatters our
quiet convention
with elegance...
her dancing hands
a lilting melody
a voice surely
not of this world,
but, of THIS moment,
celestial
transcendent
present...
made me think,
of the power
of a poet.
Thank you for your art and for opening your heart, Haydn.
I believe that Amanda Gorman would appreciate receiving a copy of your poem, Hayden.
That, would be remarkable. I'm not sure how to do that...Ah, AndreaH, all my life I've been given an extra vowel, no worries! It's from Haydn the composer.
Haydn...sorry
Your words captured and expressed EXACTLY what I saw, heard and felt. Thank you! I copied her poem and added it to my art journal, with a little red ribbon as that "band" you describe. But the "dancing hands" and "lilting melody a voice surely not of this world" could not be as well placed into a visual memory.
Nice, Haydn!
May we share Hayden? Is it published somewhere? Such a tribute to poetry.
Christine, I’m humbled. Thank you. And of course you can share. It is not published. It was such a moving moment. She made me feel —-hope—-as I had not felt for so long.
I know. I felt the same, Haydn. It is the vision that I hold of our young people in this country. They are so progressive and unapologetic of it. I believe they will be the force that lead us to victory in the fight to keep our Democracy and our Earth vibrant.
WE are all humbled.
Thank you Haydn
Just beautiful….thank you
beautifu, thank you!l
So true, and inspiring
Such emotion here. Thank you, Haydn.
YES! ty.
Great post, Heather. Thanks.
From my own 4th of July post over at That's Another Fine Mess:
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, when they sat down and argued what to say in the Declaration of Independence, may have had a much different understanding their words and goal when they said “all men are created equal,” but the moment it was said, the moment it was written, it was never going to be limited to white males of property. Every person who ever read it or heard it said “Yeah, that’s for me” And that’s why for the past 245 years people have come here, and why people have striven to make that true. This is the only country founded on a revolutionary ideal, the ideal of equality of all. There are those who say the French and Russian Revolutions were more “authentic” revolutions, but millions of people didn’t risk everything after those events to go to the land of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or the land where the workers of the world had nothing to lose but their chains. They’ve come here, and by their coming every year, they keep the dream alive, because they arrive with it in their hearts.
On June 24, 1826, the 50th year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, former President and author of the Declaration, 83 year old Thomas Jefferson, was asked by Roger Weightman to come to Washington D.C. to participate in the celebration of the anniversary. He was in declining health (he and John Adams would both die 10 days later on that day of days), and wrote to apologize for not being able to accept the offer. Fifty years later, he had come to see some of the larger meaning of the words he and John Adams and the other members of the committee who had been charged to write the Delaration had put to paper.
He wrote:
“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of god. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”
So far, we have been able - with many delays and detours - to stick to that path. The greatest threat to that revolutionary dream stands tall around us today, which makes this Fourth of July one of the most important since the day the words “all men are created equal” were first heard. It’s our belief in that revolutionary dream that is why we are involved politically and socially as we are. We may not have achieved the ideal, we may never completely do so, but if we fail to stand for it now, it will be lost, possibly forever.
Since the excerpt got such a nice respobnse (Thank you, thank you!) you could - if you want - read the whole thing (and some other things I've put up) over at: https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/the-revolutionary-dream
TC has the pen in hand again! Love revival of his blog on Substack. It’s a complement to LFAA and a compliment to fine minds on this forum. Thank TC!
Happy 4th.
TC Groupie heading on over to AFM!
I did, and the whole piece is well worth the time. This is the antithesis of the entropy that CynthiaW discussed and will be the future of the country if enough of us actively live and support that dream.
TC, thanks for sharing this. It is beautifully written, and says so, so much.
Beautiful, TC. Thanks for sharing this. I especially liked what you wrote about how “they’ve come here, and by their coming every year, they keep the dream alive, because they arrive with it in their hearts.” Today is an emotional one for me.
Thank you. This one sentence will bolster me through the dark times: "They’ve come here, and by their coming every year, they keep the dream alive, because they arrive with it in their hearts." I don't know what led my own ancestors here, but it is clear that they did arrive with a dream in their hearts and I'm here because of it and them.
Really well done, thanks.
https://wordsanddeedsblog.com/july-fourth-the-declaration-of-independence-wasnt-just-complaining-about-king-george/
Morning, TC!! And thank you.
So true and very well said.
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a12014607/white-liberals-response-white-supremacy/
Try this, then. https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/how-white-privilege-works-even-when
https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america
Yep.
Rhetoric. How many humans did Jefferson enslave. How many did he grant free before his death? In his will?
Thank YOU TC!!!💕💓 And Happy Independence Day😊
Perhaps you might want to re-read the first paragraph of my post.
The U.S. immigration and border control department in the early 1900s classified people by Race of Irish, French, etc. Look for immigration records for your ancestors.
Because not everyone is "with the program" now, any more than they were then.
I was born in 1943 and grew up in what was then rural New Jersey. This was before the interstate highways and the 55 miles to New York took two and a half hours. New Jersey was almost as segregated as Mississippi with unwritten "rules" about where "colored" could eat or sit. The proposition of equality for women and those of different races and non-Christians was indeed open to question; one that would be decided upon on a case-by-case basis depending upon the way we "fit in" and met the expectations of our places in society. Could we strive and succeed financially? Yes, if we were careful. Could we join the golf club or swim in the public pool? No, that was asking too much but there was a lake down the road and a tree behind which one could change one's clothes. Things have changed, mostly for the better. As Dr. King said, "the arch of history bends towards justice." We are now in the midst of an American silly season. Here's to the hope that in the next year or two we will all be too busy and will ignore the grifter in chief and his henchmen.
I too was born in 1943, and fully recall what you've described. I am Black and in the 60's, joined in the various protests on the then status quo of things: war, racism, poverty, general unfairness. The past four plus years brought me to near hopelessness and deep anger. However, millions of people rose to say "No!" to that period, and to assert that the principles of equality, fairness, access and diversity, across the spectrum, are still the values we'll fight for. And so, I'll continue marching on in this peculiar challenge that must be overcome.
God bless you and keep you and your loved ones safe and well.
Howard, I was born a generation later and also grew up in NJ, in a new (at the time) suburban community full of people, many at first military families whose dads were being shipped from Ft Dix and Maguire AFB to Vietnam, who were breaking out of the urban messes of Camden and Trenton for the first time. So I suspect roughly the same part of Jersey. I witnessed the slow transformation of the state from one that was split into three parts--the urban communities, the rural farmlands and Pine Barrens, and the coastal region--into a throbbing megalopolis linking NYC to Philadelphia. My great-grandfather, an immigrant who fled the pogroms of what is now Ukraine (it was the Russian Empire then), built the first big suburbs across the river from NYC--the "Oranges"--in the 1920s. Although he started as a bricklayer (a real mason!), with very little English and no real education, he pushed hard to create a career and fortune for himself and a future for his family, one that would have been impossible in Russia. His sons fought in the war, and one died on D-Day. At no time was this Jewish family welcomed by the WASP elite. He drank with his Irish and Italian employees, welcomed my father, a Greek-American, into the family (he, too, was shunned in college by the WASP elites and found friends in the Jewish fraternities and organizations), got the cold shoulder from the wannabe leaders of the synagogue he helped to build because he was too "ethnic" and too liberal in his politics.
So the fight goes on.
What a lovely tribute to your father. The last part of it makes me sad while it makes me realize that even among those that are disallowed from "whitestream" society the discriminated against go on and discrimimnate against others. We see that in appalling clarity as the Israeli government does to the Palestinians what was done to them in WW2.
That’s a lovely vignette of your father and your family’s story, Linda. A lot to be proud of, and such rich history there!
Linda, your story sounds like mine. I grew up on Long Island, New York. My grandfather was also a bricklayer, (a real mason). He came to the US in 1913. He and my grandmother built a life that, according to my grandfather, they never could have had in Italy. They sent three of their five sons to fight in WWII, and their youngest son to Korea. They were proud to be citizens of this country, and said so frequently. Their grandchildren were successful. I’ve always been so proud of them.
Linda and Howard: You know it's said that "you can take someone out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of them."
Is it human nature to chose an enemy to fight and someone to dismiss? Groups that should be united to protect each other and blossom, break into splinters of wannabe winners.
Some of us didn't get to choose our enemies. They chose us.
One of those groups lined up with Vlad who wants to destroy us from the inside out, the other group just wants peace and love for everyone. The ones choosing peace and love just want Vlad’s group to stop obstructing progress towards peace and love and a verdant life with their lies and thievery
This is the wealth, the richness of America.
An apt time to reprise the entire quote which, being a theologian, Dr. King used and which is attributed to him. They are the words of the humanist theologian Theodore Parker:
"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."
A century later, attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.
I also appreciate Eric Holder's amendment to Theodore Parker's quote:
"the arc...only bends toward justice because people pull it towards justice."
Is this the same Theodore Parker who said, “Southern Slavery is an institution that is in earnest. Northern Freedom is an institution that is not in earnest.”? This to me is the most provocative quote of the pre-civil war era.
Yes - he was an abolitionist, transcendentalist and all-around brilliant, fascinating man. Abraham Lincoln used his "of the people, by the people, for the people." Parker was one of the first women's suffragists and the first to name God father and mother.
I am not familiar with T. Parker, but I think he was pointing to the Southern willingness to kill and die to have free. forced labor forever. The Northern conscience was not as firm about eliminating free, forced labor because the profit margin looked better without wages.
Again, I suggest reading about Theodore Parker. He was an abolitionist and much more. He also held Christian exceptionalism up to a critical light, for example.
An interesting and courageous, if complex, character (but then, simple characters tend to be signs of simple minds, IMO): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Parker
"the profit margin looked better without wages." Um...wasn't that the whole reason the South wanted slavery forever? Their entire economy was based on it. The Northern economy wasn't.
I’m so confused?
Why confused? Just look up Theodore Parker. He was a theologian and an abolitionist who had a profound influence on the future path of the Unitarian Universalist church. His critique of church in general led him to disavow the institution as Christianity was/is seen. If you happen to be around West Roxbury, Mass, you can visit the Theodore Parker Unitarian Church.
Spend 7 minutes with descendants of Frederick Douglass on the Fourth of July:
“At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be startled. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.”
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/03/884832594/video-frederick-douglass-descendants-read-his-fourth-of-july-speech
and you can read it for yourself:
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/what-to-the-slave-is-the-4th-of-july-speech-transcript-by-frederick-douglass
Mr. Douglass spoke at rallies just a few miles from where we live. I take folks on URR tours due to so many locations that were stations on the URR hosted by area Quakers. Possibly over 2,000 self-emancipated people passed through here. Yet, it's so important to read William Still's book, "The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts" to understand that Black folks assisted way more self-emancipated people than did the Quakers. The Society of Friends (Quakers) did own human beings early on, yet they decided it was so wrong that they changed their ways. They visited fellow Quakers who still enslaved people and some were made to leave the Society over that. It always makes me think of Maya Angelou's often quoted saying that when they knew better, they did better. May we all be like that.
Carla, what good work you are doing. In what state?
Thanks, Ellie. Pennsylvania which surrounds us with history. The State legislature is controlled by Republicans, but we do have Governor Wolf who is a Democrat and the admirable Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Lots of work ahead of us.
Yes, Ellie, more clearly stated than I did above. Thank you, and all those who persist.
Cathy Mc., IMHO you are too humble!
Perfect, just perfect, Ellie. Thank you for this. I listened to The Rachel Maddow show the other day about how Frederick Douglas was sent to Mount Misery (the property that Donald Rumsfeld bought later on), a place singularly designed to “break” slaves. Douglas was sent there by his “owner”for a year, I believe, because he had too much spirit. He was whipped and tortured and worked nearly to death, and in his writings he speaks about being, indeed, nearly broken mentally and physically, his soul tormented. But he miraculously survived intact and went on to become one of our most distinguished leaders. What he endured and what he modeled for us, with his eloquent and stirring words, are the perfect allegory for us today. In a way, it feels as if we, as a nation, are in a kind of slumber and need to be awakened, and quick. We need a Frederick Douglas to travel the country, speaking and rousing us to action. His impassioned words are just as relevant and must be heeded in this moment.
And, once again, there is so much history and relevance about our Black brothers and sisters that we know little about.
"We need a Frederick Douglas to travel the country, speaking and rousing us to action."
"We" could be Frederick Douglass, and work toward the change we want to see and be.
Those who did not survive Mount Misery and similar insitutions and practices mentally, physically, or spiritually, deserve commemoration.
Thank you, Pam. I did not know about Mount Misery and Frederick Douglass' suffering and endurance there that was beyond the "normal" experience of enslaved people.
Frederick Douglass does continue to speak as we relay his writings and experience via social media.