Assignment 6- Equal Rights

Shylene Mejia

Class: POL 166

Professor: Barry Murdaco

Lehman College

Assignment 6- Equal Rights 

             The assigned reading for the week of 10/31/15 were Frederick Douglass’s 1852 "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” and T.H Marshall’s 1949 "Citizenship and Social Class”.

In this discussion, I will discuss an excerpt of Douglass’s piece. Frederick Douglass addressed in a speech the state of the nation on 4th of July, 1852, he states:

          

“ “At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. Did this law concern the "mint, anise, and cummin"-abridge the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. A general shout would go up from the church demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal!-And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to so licit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old covenanters would be thrown into the shade. A John Knox would be seen at every church door and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox to the beautiful, but treacherous, Queen Mary of Scotland. The fact that the church of our country (with fractional exceptions) does not esteem "the Fugitive Slave Law" as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love, and good will towards man. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as "scribes, pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe ofÝ mint, anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.” ”

             I am in strong agreement with the Honorable Frederic Douglass. In this excerpt,  Douglass notes the hypocrisy of the United States at the time branding Independence Day, as the day they became free from British rule when slaves are still held captive. He in this speech said many truths of were humanity and government stands in contrary to the reality of what was happening in many states of the south. This speech highlights to me what men and women are capable of doing when told by their government. If slavery violated the humanity of the people and took a war to dismantle it, imagine other offense the government creates that are not particularly affecting our conscious. I can only imagine the challenge a citizen faces when against the system for minor/ major offenses that do not affect our soul but are yet challenging to our every day lives such as mass incarceration of the USA population. 

           I choose this paragraph because as I read this speech. I noted the way humans are pack animals. We try to congregate, organize and we can be so mislead by groups and our environment to do wrong. I say this because slavery was obviously wrong, but the people were desensitized and placed moral values before monetary gain. The majority of churches commission of “the fugitive slave law” further illustrates my perception.  We still see this form of desensitization occurring today with the wars that we are blind to in the name of oil or power gain.  We must definitely pray for humanity because we continue to prove to be destructive. I am one to believe, there is good people but get “watered down” by the bad ones.

References

Douglass, F. (1852, July 5). The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass.        Retrieved October 31, 2015, from http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html