Saturday, July 4, 2015

A Slave’s Perspective

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, 4 July 1852)

A fair bet, if you are reading this and 
live in the United States, you are yet
an unwitting slave of Profiteering,
whether in its grasp or in its pursuit.

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