“I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
--Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech, New York, Rochester, 1852 July 5
Items of Interest and Amusement
About Me
- Radigan Neuhalfen
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Author of *The Steppe*, the novel of a man who lives alone in the Mongolian steppe, fighting -- and eating -- mythical monsters.
Original material copyright © Radigan Neuhalfen. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment