It’s the first week of July, and this year the United States is not just celebrating any ordinary Independence Day. It’s America at 250.
As people around the District and nation commemorate 250 years of independence, there are many others locally and across the country who are questioning where exactly they fit in this semiquincentennial celebration.
While the nation recently celebrated Juneteenth– acknowledging the official end of slavery on June 19, 1865— this time makes me consider the speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?,” delivered by the celebrated abolitionist and Anacostia resident Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852.
“What to the American slave is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim,” Douglass told the crowd in Rochester, New York. “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 shouts of liberty and equality, hallow mocked. Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings with all your religious parade in solemnity are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, a thin veil to cover up crimes, which would disgrace a nation of savages.”
Yes, slavery is outlawed, but in the nation’s capital— Douglass’ old stomping grounds— people are still working toward freedom and equity in the form of statehood, health and child care, education, employment, housing and economics. In D.C. and across the country, people who raised families in the U.S. are fighting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and federal officers. Plus, policies propagated by the Trump administration to “make America great again,” are in actuality reversing rights and opportunities for American citizens.
Further, while a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on June 17 surrounding the War in Iran (which the president started without congressional approval) is not officially over.
“There is not a nation of the earth, guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour,” Douglass said 174 years ago.
The Importance of Revealing Truths, Celebrating Black Beauty
Since Douglass’ speech there’s been progress for African Americans for sure— from the abolition of slavery, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the elections of President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, the first Black U.S. commander in chief.
However, this year the Supreme Court of the United States weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in their April 29 6-3 decision in “Louisiana v. Callais.” The ruling makes it incredibly difficult to challenge racially discriminatory voting districts and maps.
Further, with the elimination of federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, threats to teaching and highlighting African American history in public institutions, and President Donald Trump ignoring Juneteenth for the second consecutive year, it’s no secret that there’s a calculated effort toward Black erasure.
Nonetheless, despite attempts to diminish African Americans’ role in society, there’s also no ignoring Black boldness, beauty and contributions to worldwide culture overall.
Every day, The Washington Informer works to be honest about the challenges and inequities Black people navigate and highlights the artists, politicians, activists, community leaders, teachers and youth working toward freedom and equity for all. This edition furthers that mission, showcasing the historic contributions of African Americans throughout the nation’s history, while celebrating people in D.C. and nationwide who embody the meaning of Black pride through their expression, work, and passions.
Harlem Renaissance writer Alaine Locke said: “Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid.”
This managing editor with a background in theatre interprets that brilliant Locke quote a step beyond the artist, but the fact-based storyteller, and in this case, the Black Press. It’s the role of the Black Press to report on the beauty that hatred, bigotry and misinformation have blanketed for centuries.
Harry Belafonte, in his book “My Song,” says a Paul Robeson quote served as a driving force for his own artivism: “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth.”
As both a journalist and artist, I love the original quote, but have remixed it for my own motivating mantra: Storytellers reveal truths.
While federal forces work to erase African American history and narratives, The Washington Informer– for nearly 62 years— has served as a way to highlight, uplift and educate through revealing truths about the Black community in the District, nation and worldwide.
So while America is trying to bury truths about Black people at 250, The Informer is working to do the exact opposite. Celebrate Black beauty, history, contributions, and culture.
Douglass, 76 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, felt it important to call out the hypocritical nature in celebrating liberation when Black people remained enslaved. More than 170 years since Douglass’ speech, I also think it’s important to interrogate the meaning of liberty when so many people are still working toward freedom and equity for all.
Instead of simply celebrating the nation’s independence at a time when African Americans, immigrants and marginalized communities are being attacked, it’s a perfect moment to emphasize the beauty of diversity and the greatness that comes from embracing it. Moreover, as African American history and narratives are erased, it’s important to highlight Black, boldness and beauty and emphasize the incredible value it has had on the nation and world.
Just as Douglass encouraged in the mid 19th century, 2026 is the time for a bold wake up call.
“For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be startled,” Douglass said. “The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.”
