The other side of the 4th.

[Smith]

Words escape me. Maybe Ms Malveaux fails to recognize that is precisely the thing we celebrate that allowed some one like Frederick Douglas to make statements like he did in 1852, when no other place on earth would have allowed it. It's not perfection or nothing, but rather the freedom of life liberty and pursue happines. Missing the forrest in the trees.

On July 4, hopes for a better nation - USATODAY.com

On July 4, hopes for a better nation

I have never been big on the Fourth of July. Most years, I took great pleasure in reading the powerful Frederick Douglass speech, " The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." Though delivered in 1852 during slavery, the words have rich meaning for me, even today.

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July," he thundered to a crowd in Rochester, N.Y. "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 shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery."

The speech is a scathing indictment of U.S. hypocrisy. If you called me on July 4, I would probably read you some of its rich and powerful passages.

Our nation has come a long way since 1852, but for many African Americans, shouts of liberty are still hollow mockery. Unemployment is a scourge on all Americans, but the black unemployment rate, at 15.3% in May, is nearly twice the white rate. Every economic indicator — income, wealth, homeownership — screams inequality.

Still, in a moment of optimism, I retired my Fourth of July ritual last year. After all, 69 million Americans voted for Barack Obama, and many thought he could bring our nation together. While I remained frustrated that racial economic justice has not been attained, it seemed churlish to insist, in the face of so much optimism, on reading Douglass' fiery words.

There are those who will tell me that, despite inequality, African Americans are better off in these United States than black people are anywhere else. Others will say that if I don't like these United States, I can leave. But I am as staunch a patriot as the love-it-or-leave-it crowd. My mantra, though, is that we must improve it or lose it. We improve it when we fight to close racial economic gaps, when we struggle to make the words of the Pledge of Allegiance, one nation under God, more reality than fiction.

Despite his scathing commentary, Douglass said, "I do not despair of this country." Nor do I. But progress has been so slowed, optimism so dimmed, and some criticisms of our president so blatantly racial that I'm returning to my ritual of reading Frederick Douglass, if only as a reminder that the struggle for justice and equality must continue.

Julianne Malveaux is president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.

[leroy]

MS Malveaux is either a foolish woman or a political hack. I strongly suspect she is the latter. Her dream (...and, I believe, nobama's dream too...) is one laced in the old Liberation Theology teachings that postulate that all people of color are mistreated and it is their right and duty to rectify this "wrong". They are committed socialists and are working mightily to remake this country into a socialist "workers paradise" (...with them, of course, at the top...). They believe that they and they alone, should be the political masters of this country. They see a country based on principles far different from those on which this country was founded. It is no wonder to me that they don’t celebrate the Fourth of July.

We in this country have enjoy(ed) (...up to now, at least...) so much freedom and prosperity that Ms Malveaux, and others like her, can create a grotesque reality in which many academians and others of like mind can be on the dole making a six figure salary in some private (...or, in many cases, a state ...) college somewhere; and still believe that they are downtrodden, discriminated against, and put-upon "second class citizens". They then take a solemn vow to save their lesser brothers and sisters from this same imagined fate; and teach the foolish this same tired old socialist malarkey to a new generation of the foolish and impressionable (...thankfully, many do not seem to believe this groteques lie...). All the while preaching for the destruction of the very system and set of values that brought them to the party to begin with. The whole spectacle is, indeed, a sickening sight to behold. It is a sight that could only happen in America where we honor individual freedoms (...speech, association, religion...) and the right of self-determination; no matter how heinous the speech and grotesque the self-determination.

I wonder how these chumps would fare being academians in a real oppressive, totalitarian socialist "workers utopia" like the one ole Josef Stalin ran? That is exactly what they seem to want; remember, as the great Nobama said to the Republicans : " You need to do what we say ( ...my addition to the quote; and an accurate one I believe...), We won the election. We have the keys now, and we wont give em back!..." I think it is ironic that the only people in the whole world who are free and think that this socialist drivel will work (...with them, of course, as the exalted leaders...) reside in the USA. The Russians and the Red Chinese don’t even believe this stuff. Remember, elections have consequences. Vote early and often!!

SMITH: Thanks for posting this little bit of socialist musing. There is, indeed, a big lesson in it. By the way; Ms. Malveaux aint a Fredrick Douglas.

Keep up the good work!!

Food for thought.

Leroy