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The Unruly Intellectual

the intersection of Race, Economics, Policy and Politics. All from a Black Point of View.

What is Your 4th of July to a Slave

6/25/2017

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What is Your 4th of July to a Slave? Until it's
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
These were such powerful and promising words when they were written on July 4th, 1776.

And then July 5th came, and it was apparent that these words did not apply to all of American's residents.

So we ask, how much longer will it take?

We have been here since 1619.

How much more can we do? We have died in the defense of an ideal that we have never attained.

For 89 years after these words were written, we were denied Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Hell, we were denied basic Humanity.

Oh, no. We didn't forget. Three-fifths human was the rationalization you used to deny us our birthright. We were deemed property.

Livestock.

The human capital this nation's very wealth was built on.

Literally. We haven't forgotten that enslaved people were one of the very first "commodities" traded on the stock exchange.

Nor have we forgotten that Wall Street is literally built on top of the burial ground of enslaved Africans.

No, we haven't forgotten that th e13 Amendment which purports to "abolish" slavery also includes a very big EXCEPT as a condition of our "freedom".

An exception that explains how it is possible for the "land of the free" to incarcerate more of its citizens, both as an aggregate number AND on a per capita basis, than any other nation on the planet.

we haven't forgotten that Black men and women have died in every single military conflict back to the birth of this Republic. We haven't forgotten the Crispus Attucks, a Black man, who was the first to give his life in the Revolutionary War.

We haven't forgotten that as soon as we were no longer enslaved, you changed the rules to criminalize being homeless and jobless, arrested and convicted us, then leased us back to the very plantations we had just left. Slavery by another name.

We haven't forgotten the Black Codes that created a racial caste system and deemed us second class citizens.

Bottom of America's totem pole.

We haven't forgotten about the broken promise of 40 acres and a mule.

We haven't forgotten about Jim Crow.

Racially Restrictive Covenants.

Redlining.

White Flight.

Lynching.

We haven't forgotten that Black soldiers returning home from World War II were prohibited from using their GI Benefits to purchase homes like their white counterparts.

We haven't forgotten about CointelPro. Martin's assassination. The targeted dismantling of the Black Panthers, though interestingly enough, NOT the KKK.

We haven't forgotten that drugs were purposely pumped into out communities to destabilize our families.

We haven't forgotten that the "War on Drugs" is really a War on Us.

We haven't forgotten that we have been systematically targeted for higher costs of borrowing, even when our credit and income are comparable to others.

We haven't forgotten Trayvon Martin. Mike Brown. Eric Gardner. John Crawford. Tamir Rice. Sandra Bland. Countless others, too many to list.

We haven't forgotten 400 years of being America's dark secret.

Yet we still cling to the slimmest of hopes that , "All men are created equal," and "Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."

See, we have not forgotten that promise you made on that July 4th, 1776.

But it seems you have.

And so this year, as we have hundreds before, we ask, "What is your 4th of July to a slave?"
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    About Bartholomew J. Worthington III

    Bartholomew J. Worthington III is an anti-establishment Blacktivist with a profound disdain for authority figures; dreams in vivid techni-color; and can virtually taste the day when he finally achieves escape velocity from the rat race.

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  • Home
    • About Us: The BlackPrint Statement of Purpose
    • Today in Blackness >
      • May in Blackness
      • Quote of the Day >
        • Quote of the Day March
        • Quote of the Day February
        • Quote of the Day January
        • Quote of the Day December
        • Quote of the Day November
        • Quote of the Day October
        • Quote of the Day September
        • Quote of the Day August
        • Quote of the Day July
        • Quote of the Day June
        • Quote of the Day May
  • Learn To Fish
    • The Case For Black Entreprenuership
    • How to File For A Tax ID Number
    • Getting Organized For Business >
      • Getting Organized For Business 2
    • The Case Against the 40 Hour Workweek
  • Shoulders of Giants
    • Giant: Patrice Lumumba
    • Giant: Nat Turner
    • The Donkey's Sin - Ethiopian Parable
    • Giant: Haile Selassie
    • Giant: Madame CJ Walker
    • Giant: Hannibal Barca
    • Giant: George Washingon Carver
    • Giant: Sojourner Truth
    • Giant: Toussaint L'Ouverture
    • Giant: Harriet Tubman
    • Giant: Huey Newton
    • Giant: Marcus Garvey
  • Mind On My Money
    • 6 Terms to Master Financial Literacy
    • Black Wealth By The Numbers
    • Blackonomics 102: State of The Black Owned Businesses
    • Blackonomics 101: State of the Black Economy
    • 25 Resources For Getting Your Business Off the Ground
    • Black Investing 101: Invest In Stocks For Your Kids
    • How to Introduce Your Child to Money - Infographic
    • Black Investing 101: Invest In Companies You Support
    • Black Personal Finance 101
    • Getting on Track
    • Managing Debt >
      • Addicted To Debt
      • THEY Don't Want You to Know
      • Dirty Little Secrets
      • Your Rights As a Consumer
    • Understanding Credit >
      • Why Credit Matters
      • About Your Credit Score
      • Optimize Your Credit Score
      • By the Numbers
  • Unruly Intellectual Blog