Featured Post

Long Tweet: Change and Hope

They say there hasn’t been any change during the first term of President Barack Obama, and I have to disagree...

Pages

Thursday, July 3, 2014

State of The Nation : That Missed Period

If Only Thomas Jefferson Could Settle the Issue

A Period Is Questioned in the Declaration of Independence

The period creates the impression that the list of self-evident truths ends with the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” she says. But as intended by Thomas Jefferson, she argues, what comes next is just as important: the essential role of governments — “instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” — in securing those rights.  Full Story
To have a bit of fun with this, I searched "period in the Constitution" knowing full well this story is about the Declaration of Independence but this guy didn't know that and was completely outraged anyway:

Damned Libruls!  lolz!



Humans Ain't Sh*t!

Father could face 
more charges


"Among the most shocking allegations: Justin Ross Harris messaged six women, sending and receiving explicit texts -- some including nude images -- from work while his 22-month-old was dying, a detective testified at the hearing." CNN.com

Protesters in Murrieta block detainees' buses in tense standoff 

“Murrieta expects our government to enforce our laws, including the deportation of illegal immigrants caught crossing our borders, not disperse them into our local communities,” Long said Monday at a news conference. The city had defeated two previous attempts to send migrants to the facility, he said." 





Really?








Ginuwine Shames His Daughter for Instagram?









Ginwine posts this photo of his child...










...attaches this dribble to it...












... and Sole had to put his ass in check.

The Dumping of Snowden's Motherlode Better Werk


After Glenn Greenwald promised to release more Snowden documents and name names, recent developments caused him to hold off on the "at midnight," sensational and mind blowing dump due to recent claims made by the United States Government.  As usual, much drama, little results.



Never fear.  There is an organization that goes by the name of Cryptome that also promises to release these "war averting" documents as well. They have a list of documents already posted to their website. I have no idea if they are the promised documents.  Not for nothing, I have no intention of clicking on nary one of these documents because truthfully, Hackers freak me out.


Considering that there is already a war in progress in Iraq and that the President is sending troops in increments, it would behoove these truth tellers to dump Snowden's shit before it hits the fan.  It makes one wonder how much do they really know and how much could actually be averted and what part of their brains makes it logical to tease and then withhold a blockbuster revelation that would end wars, loss and death in the first place.  

These tweets and the conversations they illicit are sexy and titillating, but this isn't a movie; real blood and treasure are at stake here.  This business of whistleblowing and claiming victimhood to the mighty hand of the government without truly revealing anything that The People can use, are the stuff of new millennial pulp fiction but not real life.  In real life certain characters are positioning the country for another war and y'all playing peekaboo.

Seems the Greenwald crew aren't much for what's real for real life because thus far, what they believe we all should heed just doesn't matter to most.  It's not like we were not already aware that the Patriot Act gave the government a whole swath of powers the state should never have.  We were already well aware that countries spied on one another, and more importantly, we were all well aware the government spied on us. When all is said and done, my personal objection to government overreach isn't the potential of being spied upon but that the government has the legal option to do so without public oversight.  That's a real life issue.  What difference does it make, to us, the programs the NSA uses  to spy on US?  We already know they've done it, will continue to do it, and we are still unable to stop them from doing so under the law.  Ah, but none of this matters because the Snowden revelations were stellar, so shut up.

The Government says that what was revealed by the Snowden revelations meant more to "enemies of state" than to your average American. That's the claim, and Greenwald 's response to this claim--that the U.S. should reveal which "American lives" were harmed--is absurd. Glenn can talk as fast as he wants, and use as many buzzwords to spark his base all he wants, and can be mad at the sheeple masses who are too ignorant to understand the nuance of the Snowden revelations all he wants; I still don't see any of his sycophants making moves to do away with the causes of government overreach.   To date, these so-called revelations have simply added to the noise, and the recent adjustments to NSA processes were mere bandaids.  To me, since the Patriot Act still exists and isn't even a target of the worshipers of these revelations, says what?  Says there still remains the potential for a nut to become King of all America and have autonomy over our lives.  In the end, these revelations were great for accolades and exclusive interviews, but the wars are still being manufactured and we know little more than we did the day before we've ever heard of Greenwald and Snowden. 

I support whistleblowing and revelations and have no qualms in supporting truth no matter the administration in power nor who decimates it.  That said, I can only hope, that when these new revelations drop, we're all the better for it and that they are not simply an addendum to the deification of the likes Greenwald and Snowden.




Scrub A'Dub Dub

Why has Google cast me into oblivion? 

This morning the BBC received the following notification from Google:
Notice of removal from Google Search: we regret to inform you that we are no longer able to show the following pages from your website in response to certain searches on European versions of Google: Full Story
Thing is, I tried googling this story and came up with nothing but stories about how google scrubbed Preston's story.  Further, no one links to his blog post.  It's one thing when Europe will allow for the censorship of their journalists, it's quite another thing if I'm in the U.S. and still can't find a story without knowing the name of the article.  It's like WTF?  Despite all of our bitching about freedoms and privacy, at least we can still google-stalk damned near anyone we want.  U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!  

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Quick Shots 7/2/2014

Upstate GOP State Senator Indicted For Allegedly Lying To FBI About Job For Son


"All of the statements were allegedly false."  CBSNEWYORK

Man Accused of Stabbing Two Children in East New York Arraigned

"They asked the judge for an extension in order to pursue a possible psychiatric defense in the case."  NY1

AP's Coverage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 AP.org

ANCIENT GENE AIDS TIBETANS WITH HIGH ALTITUDE AP

Secrets of the Creative Brain 
"Some people see things others cannot, and they are right, and we call them creative geniuses.  Some people see things others cannot, and they are wrong, and we call them mentally ill." The Atlantic


Louis Vuitton sued over claims that store boss called black people 'slaves who eat dirt'
"He alleged that the manager called Barack Obama a “muppet” and said America would be better off with “Miss Piggy” as its president because “Muslim people... don’t eat pork”." MirrorUK

Target to customers: No guns in our stores please

"[We] respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target - even in communities where it is permitted by law," Target CEO John Mulligan wrote in a statement on the company's corporate blog." BBC



Monday, November 5, 2012

Long Tweet: Change and Hope


They say there hasn’t been any change during the first term of President Barack Obama, and I have to disagree.  They say that hope and change were futile and this President was a facilitator for creating a docile, sleepy populace, and again, I have to disagree.  Personally, I’ve seen the change.  I’ve seen the way I’ve approached the whole idea of politics, politicians and the entire process of getting what we want out of the only government we have to work with.  I acknowledge this as change and this change in me gives me hope.

The election of President Obama in 2008 was like turning the lights on 400 hidden cockroaches.  By the inauguration in 2009 you had elected officials meeting and vowing to make this man a one term president. Now we all know the richest families of this nation had turned this experiment in democracy into an oligarchy—plain and straight.  Their successes didn’t occur because they were so smart, rich and powerful, their power simply depended on our apathy.  Their efforts for dominance, in the last 40 years specifically, were successful because the majority of US stopped paying attention to, and engaging in, our politics.  Their power comes from being able to control media, commentary and yes, activism—an activism that stops just short of solutions.  Between misinformation, oppression and white privilege, our energies have been channeled into rhetoric and a false awareness that allowed some to vocalize their egos instead of giving the People a true voice.  Why would we continue to push for the apathy that gave these people dominance in the first place?

Things have changed so much for me; even the progressive movement has come into scrutiny.  Because of all I’ve become aware, the far-left’s willingness to risk a Romney presidency gives me pause.  That they haven’t truly figured out the matrix by now, for me, diminishes their credibility.  That they would risk my freedom for some high-browed principle that puts no food on the table is beyond me.  Harsh?  Admittedly.  But that’s what it boils down to.  This election is a first step towards the America we’ve envisioned or the final step towards the fascism we’ve all predicted.  Sure, it can be said this President is the lesser of two evils.  What else is new?  This system is indeed broken; always has been.  It is unfair and imperial and parasitic and should be demolished.  Reformatted.  Rebooted.  None of this can happen if we are outside of this system and President Obama is no savior in this regard.  We have to get our hands dirty.  We have to understand the process so we can change it.  Standing on the sidelines and complaining feeds this system.  Anyone considering themselves a champion for the poor, who does not recognize that the middleclass are the poor and that the poor are now the destitute, haven’t been paying attention and is merely feeding their own egos by espousing this type of ineffective resistance.  A person perched upon a heap of dung promoting a tired, ineffective rhetoric becomes ego driven leader of excrement.  As the heap grows, the louder they speak, shit still stinks.  Sometimes I have to wonder for whom these people are working? 

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not disparaging anyone’s effort.  The proliferation of information is integral to this process and I’m not asking that anyone remain silent.  I have great love and respect for anyone that tries to mobilize, educate and empower the people.  I have great respect for people who use their bodies in protest and dedicate their lives to effecting change.  I adore people who spend their little dollars to make sure I’m not marginalized.  I support truth in all forms.  I love these people for speaking it.  I’m one of those people so truly, sincerely; thank you and nice working with you.  I’m just saying that knowing our history, their history, the history of the system is only the beginning.  We have to learn from what has already occurred and from what I’ve learned, we have a choice to either revamp this system or shut it down.  New thought?  Not at all, but which option is more probable?  It has to be either/or, not a smidgen of both.  For instance, in recent history we’ve seen how the protest has been completely sidelined, and by the same token, we see the hordes of people still willing to imbibe in this system of elections.  People are more apt to engage the machine, so what do we do?  Do we set unrealistic goals where everyone in America has to be progressive, radical, altruistic, vegan, atheist, and forego everything we deem counter-revolutionary in order to effect change?  Or, do we take over the machine?  Do we spend even more decades in simply being contemptuous of the system without a working strategy?  This may make for millions in book sales and punditry, but this is obviously proven unproductive as far as true progress is concerned.  We need time and a succinct approach.  For instance, we’ve had the Occupy movement and now we need to supplement that, or the next one, with a ground movement.  We’ve got to come out and engage the citizenry so they can understand what an Occupy is really all about.  We need to actually learn from the Civil Rights Movement and work this new movement like a political campaign.  We need soap boxes on the corner and to knock on doors.  Unless we are prepared to engage in a movement that looks like a presidential campaign, we will continue to lose ground and find ourselves fighting battles that activists before us have already fought and died for.  Until we realize we need to back our protesting bodies up with concrete legislation, we relinquish our sway with politicians to corporate lobbyists.  As it stands, we’re not ready for any of that.  With a Romney Presidency, we will never get ready.

In my opinion, the next four years are pivotal.  “They” are winning in turning back the clock on the major accomplishments of our ancestors.  The national republican effort to suppress the vote should automatically make everyone want to come out and vote.  No one, however anti-political should suggest or promote not voting in such a climate.  Knowing the history of this country and voter suppression…man if voter suppression in 2012 does not make you determined to vote just for GP…  I have no words.  I have no words, because that means that no matter what these 400 families try to pull, say for instance; heeding Rand Paul’s assertion that ‘certain’ parts of the Civil Rights Laws are unconstitutional or that States’ rights should always trump federal mandate, says many people would stand by and watch anything go down while taking a principled stance on the sidelines of those voting.  Any horrid thing could be overturned and enacted and then they’ll say “See” and “Told you voting meant nothing.”  I don’t see this type of protest as strength.  It just makes us invisible.  I don’t see accusatory elements ticking off atrocities as superior.  It just relegates us to pontificating.  All I know is that I have to vote because Emmett Till died for my right to vote.  Four little girls died at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church because people organized the vote at this location.  Fannie Lou Hamer was severely beaten and disabled because of her efforts.  My heart breaks for them to date.  Just yesterday people were relegated to chanting, “Let us vote.”  How can you turn your progressive back on that?  I have to vote.  Only this time, to vote President Obama, to put this President back in office is to put this President in the position to put up or shut up because I’m on to this system now and he should be on to what it is the majority of the people in this country really want.  My job isn’t done the second I pull the lever and merely pointing out his faults and the faults of the system is no longer satisfying for me.  Being aware of the “lesser evil” philosophy doesn’t make me smarter, more effective, or less naïve than anyone else.  If this President says I must make him reactive, then it behooves me to do so.  It should behoove you to do so.  I see no possibility of anything progressive being accomplished under a Romney administration.

The System is tangible, workable; if only we use it.  Sure, the more we use it, the more they try and change it but they risk making the system vulnerable with each turn.  “They” make mistakes when they change they rules.  “They” are forced to show their true face and the masses have been taking notice.  That there are people, whose names I now know, whose affiliations aren’t cloaked behind the occultist specter of the Illuminati but revealed as think tank, Senator, Congressman, Judge, lobbyist, media figure and corporation is a change for many.  We can now see how the Heritage Foundation and Koch Brothers created the Tea Party.  We can see how Alex Jones’ rhetoric simultaneously bash and protect banks and corporations.  We can see how Romney unabashedly lies while Fox News corroborates each lie he utters.  We’ve watched the Drudge Report pick and choose anti-Obama related headlines however uncorroborated with facts.  We’ve seen supposed Lefty media call a lying Romney’s first debate performance a win.  We see the true strength of racism in how republicans rally their constituency to vote against their own interest.  We’ve seen the ineffectiveness of so-called progressive leadership and how they’ve been reduced to complainers and whiners and are used to control the masses as effectively as Glen Beck--willingly or unwillingly.  Most importantly, we’ve learned that if we relegate our political involvement to simply voting for a president every four years, we end up with Scott Walker, Michelle Bachman, Jan Brewer and Rick Scott, among others.  These oligarchs and their minions are against unions, have continually widened the wealth gap and are not opposed to a failing economy to keep us hopelessly indebted.  They control the media, the activism, elections and elected officials.  They control lobbyists that create laws that their corrupt politicians institute on a state and federal level.  They would suppress your vote, your choice, your earning and learning abilities and ultimately, your freedom.  They have rewritten history as we watched powerless to stop them.  Doesn’t that at least irk you enough to vote their main faction out of office?

I don’t fear "them," I see an out.  It isn’t that they are all powerful and omniscient it is simply that they are organized in contrast to our disorganization.  This makes them effective.  We can be too. This twisted matrix they’ve created is now revealed and would suffer a powerful blow simply by re-electing President Obama.  Will President Obama wave a magic wand and shut down all military bases, make everyone rich and end sexism, racism, militarism and corporatism?  Of course not.  First off, we see Presidents do not have that power.  They don’t have the power to institute and fund legislation on their own.  That is the nature of the Constitution where there are checks and balances.  Ultimately, whom we elect on the state level, to Congress, the Senate and which president we allow access to SCOTUS appointments are all on the People of the United States.  We need to begin to take this process seriously.  And yes, it is a two party process.  There are the Democrats and then, there are the Republicans.  Face it.  Progressives need to choose a party and co-opt it.  We need to change the national dialogue and expose people to our ideas on a global level.  We need to elect more progressives as State and Local representatives and petition the President to sign our legislation on a federal level with a newly-formed State and Local momentum.  That is the ideal.  That is a foreseeable future in my opinion.  For now, we can see who this President really is.  Will he be the liberal Senator or the same Centrist President in his second term?  Will he remain the corporatist some of you call him?  Will his reelection and our election of a supportive Congress and Senate make him change course?  Don’t you want to find out?  We know what direction Mitt Romney will take the country.  Reagan and the Bushes before him already set the pace.  Don’t you want to find out exactly what President Obama means when he says he wants to take us Forward?

We don’t know what a President Obama in a second--unfettered, no holds barred--presidential term would give birth to.  Here is what we do know.  As it stands, we know this is a president that believes in war.  He believes protecting “American Interests” by any means.  He believes in the NDAA and all that it entails because he signed that while no one was paying attention.  We also know that he believes in education, healthcare, tariffs, job creation, Global Warming, Social Security, Medicare, women’s issues, LGBT issues, immigrant issues and yes, even the problems facing Blacks specifically.  He also believes in reforming Wall Street and regulating corporations.  Some say he could have done more, but no one can say, with the obstacles he’s faced, that President Obama hasn’t done a damned good job.  I don’t think we’ve seen the extent of his leadership.  Granted, his efforts have not been in lock step with the Progressive ideal; what else is new?  No president before this one can be deemed perfect.  I say we take advantage of our similarities though.  We have a multitude of issues to be addressed.  If the fockery of foreign policy is beyond his reach or willingness to reform, then let’s concentrate on domestic issues.  Let’s continue to concentrate on Stop and Frisk, because no other administration deigned to do so.  Let’s concentrate on the school to prison pipeline, because again, no other administration has ever given a care.  Let us focus on the reinstitution Glass-Steagall.  Let us focus on doing away with NAFTA and bring jobs back to America and allow other countries to feed their own people.  Let’s focus on getting rid of Citizen’s United and push for lobbyist restriction.  Let’s get the money out of politics altogether.  Let’s make education more accessible and affordable, if not gratis, and do away with the federally supported for-profit college industry.  Let’s support this President when he wants to do things like do away with corporate subsidies.  Aren’t there hundreds of ways we can work with this President?  I really don’t want to talk about what he won’t do or hasn't done.  I want to work with him on what he will do within the next four years.  I want to utilize this time to create a foundation, a platform from which a true progressive movement can spring.  So vote for Change and Hope or stay home and vote for Romney.


Friday, November 5, 2010

Long Tweet: We need a new form of protest


Nope *smh* I'm not buying that the President believes the "people have spoken," nor do I believe that the President thinks Republicans are ready to "compromise."


Watching the corpwhore media ramble on about how "angry" the "American People" are and attributing this anger to the misled and race-based Tea party "Movement," all the while airing sound bites of elect house members emphatically stating their unwillingness to compromise with the sitting President, you would have to be as dumb as Sarah Palin to believe that Republicans are ready to compromise. "Compromise" to the Republican Party is; not regulating corporations, not taxing corporations, and getting rid of unions—long story short—profits first.


The People have spoken. We've been speaking since the Bush Administration's inception, (and in many instances, before) about a myriad of issues that do not serve the corporate structure. We want out of these wars, we want better education, we want our jobs back from India and China with competitive salaries and benefits, we want police brutality ended, drugs and guns removed from inner cities, we wanted healthcare for all and an abolishment of usury rates, we did not want bailouts, we want the rich to pay their fair share, and we definitely did not want a "favorable for corporations" ruling in the Citizen's United case. There is not enough bandwidth to voice our unheard grievances, yet, after a run-of-the mill election, I'm supposed to believe, that the President believes, that the voice he was hearing was that of the Tea Party??? Nope. *smh* I'm not buying it.


The People are quite aware that the voices that were loudest were funded by the corporate structure. We are quite aware that this corporate-backed voice's raised decibels were due to a mainstream media that is also funded by this corporate structure. We are also aware that this failed "fourth branch" gave credence to the craziest, most racist and ill-informed Americans in this country. So, what do we do? Protest--who would cover it? We've got to rethink our form of protest. Unless sensational, there is no way to garner the attention of mainstream media and, in turn, no way to reach those not tuned into the urgency of self representation. As an aside, I've been going to protests since I was 12/13 years old and I've seen legitimate protests co-opted by special interest groups that had nothing to do with the nature of protest I was willing to engage in. I've never been that scattered with my energies. Besides, there is something about having to procure a permit to protest social ills that produces a taste of bile in my mouth.


Listen, I don't have a definitive answer but I do have a concept and it is a concept based on a constant exhibition of our angst. For instances, I for one am willing to attach a blue flag to the antennae of my automobile that represents the small "d" democracy where, a "government by the people" is the ideal achieved through "the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges." I envision a sea of blue flags waving in the wind on all highways and byways of America. I would also be willing to carry a placard expressing my dissatisfaction with the status quo. Something like, "I'm being ignored by President Obama," or "The Republican Party Will Never Compromise." Throughout the remaining days of the Obama administration's tenure, the party of "No" will continue to stall the President's agenda giving us ample opportunity to revise our placard messages. I can actually see; city streets, trains, and buses filled with people going about their daily business carrying signs of silent protest.


Are we not worthy of achieving the freedoms America's "forefathers" envisioned for their own function? Each one of us is responsible for our circumstances and what we allow to be done to our condition is our own doing. A feeling of powerlessness is debilitating. The ruling structure relies on cognitive dissonance. Do we create our own realities or allow others to benefit from our stifled dreams? We can use the tools provided to either rise or remain stagnate. Protests no longer have to be date and time stamped. It can be done immediately, like right NOW. It can be personal.


Look, I've already attached my blue flag to my automobile's antennae. I wish I had all the answers.  What are you gonna do? I'll probably do that too.


Hmmm,
maybe, #ImBeingIgnoredByPresidentObama should be a trending topic?

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Frederick Douglass Independence Day Speech at Rochester, 1841

(A former slave himself, Frederick Douglass became a leader in the 19th Century Abolitionist Movement)

Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that the dumb might eloquently speak and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. 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 light 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. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn that it is dangerous to copy the example of nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people.

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorry this day, "may my right hand cleave to the roof of my mouth"! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine. I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth 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. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate, I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, shall not confess to be right and just....

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not as astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, and secretaries, having among us lawyers doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; and that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!...

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply....

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? 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 sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms- of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.