1 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 2 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody pre recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 3 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: I hope that you have enjoyed this week on WOKF 4 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: our Cookout Week, where we have been in conversation with 5 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: some of my favorite past guests and friends to talk 6 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: about our complicated relationship with Independence Week in America with 7 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: the Fourth of July holiday, and the complicated relationship that 8 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: I think that all of us have either had from 9 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: birth or developed over time with a country that we 10 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: love that does not always or has ever, really truly 11 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: loved us back. If you've listened to my show over 12 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: the past several years, you know that during the Fourth 13 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: of July, I have adopted a tradition from one of 14 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: my friends who you listened to earlier in the week, 15 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,279 Speaker 1: the Reverend Mark Thompson, who on his show Make It Plain, 16 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: has read in its entirety Frederick Douglas's speech What to 17 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: the Slave is the fourth of July and if you 18 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: remember back during the pandemic, if you were following me 19 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: there when we were in quarantine, I read it alongside 20 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: my sister on Instagram Live and have recorded it on 21 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: wok f before. I will not read it in its 22 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: entirety this year, just because of time constraints, but also 23 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: you know, there are pieces of it that I will 24 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: be lifting up today because I think it's an important 25 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: way to close out this week on WOK. I think 26 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: that we should use the holidays that we are given, 27 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: the ones that we are given with little context or 28 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: a little conversation outside of barbecuing and cocktails, to really 29 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: delve into who America is right now. Who do you 30 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: find America to be at this time? What is your 31 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:33,679 Speaker 1: relationship with this country with the narrative that you have 32 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: been prescribed throughout your life, How does it measure up 33 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: to where you find your relationship with this nation at 34 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: this moment. Similarly, last month, when we were talking to 35 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: queer people about pride and how we understand pride during 36 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:05,399 Speaker 1: a really unfortunate and horrible time for the LGBTQ community, 37 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: particularly for trans people, with an onslaught of over five 38 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: hundred pieces of anti LGBTQ legislation, I think that it's 39 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: important not to just consume what it is that people 40 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: are putting out, but really, in your own way, in 41 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: your own circles, be having these conversations and analyzing and 42 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: really understanding that this relationship with this country, much like 43 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: any relationship that you're in, changes over time, and if 44 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: you were not nurturing that relationship, if you are not 45 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: truly connected and present, much like let's say a marriage 46 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: or a friendship, it can end. The relationship with America 47 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: is one that is complicated in the same way that 48 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: your relationship with your family may be complicated. When we 49 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: are young, we rely on our parents and our caregivers 50 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: right to teach us how to walk, how to talk, 51 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 1: how to cross the street, how to tie shoes, how 52 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: to become you know, adult humans, thinkers, doers, how to 53 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 1: be kind, how to read. And as we adapt all 54 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: of these new skills, we develop in our thinking, we 55 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: formulate our own questions and our own ideas. And then 56 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: our relationship with our parents, usually around our teen years, 57 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: becomes fraught because as we are trying to calm into 58 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: the full name of who we are, they still see 59 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: us as the children that they have been rearing. And 60 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: then as we continue to age and they age in 61 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: some instances, those roles become reversed, and now you are 62 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:24,839 Speaker 1: helping your parents walk, helping them in many ways as 63 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: they enter into their sunset years. The relationship that I 64 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: have personally with this country is one you know, that 65 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: kind of Toshi had lifted up in the earlier episode 66 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: this week where she talked about the relationship with an 67 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: abusive partner. You know, but the relationship wasn't always abusive, 68 00:05:54,480 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: right Like, I personally entered into a career in politics 69 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: because I really wanted to be of service, because this 70 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: country had given my family so much in terms of 71 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: opportunities when they left Jamaica and came to the United 72 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: States in the nineteen seventies, and because of their decision 73 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: to leave their own country, I was able to forge 74 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,559 Speaker 1: in my cousins, and my sister and I were able 75 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: to forge our own paths, write and build lives and 76 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: careers in this country that we might not have been 77 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: able to do in Jamaica. And particularly as a black 78 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: queer woman, right that was growing up in a time 79 00:06:53,279 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: when we were actually creating laws to protect the humanity 80 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: and dignity of queer people. If I had lived and 81 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: was born in a country that did not have those protections, 82 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: I probably never would have came out because it would 83 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: have been too dangerous to do so. So I wanted 84 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: to live a life and build a career where I 85 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: felt like I was giving back. And over the years, 86 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: as I have been an educator, as I have worked 87 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: on Capitol Hill for members of Congress, as I have 88 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: worked for nonprofit organizations trying to better the environment and 89 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: better education for the nation, I felt like I was 90 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: able to become a part of America's story, right. And 91 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: then President Obama was elected and I thought, Oh my god, 92 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: We're just going up from here. We're just you know, 93 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: like this is going to be amazing. I'm going to 94 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: get to be a part of this next golden era 95 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: of creation and innovation and just acceptance and equity. And 96 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: then the bottom fell out and Donald Trump descended down 97 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: those escalator stairs and stood before microphones, disparaged Mexicans, disparaged 98 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: people of color. And our new American nightmare would begin then. 99 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:07,319 Speaker 1: And that's what we've been locked into ever since. As 100 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: I've watched and you have watched black people become hashtags 101 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: week after week, month after month, whether it be at 102 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: the hands of police or white vigilantes. We've watched voting 103 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: rights be rolled back and gutted. We've watched Roe v 104 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:36,319 Speaker 1: wade be overturned after fifty years of a woman having 105 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: the right to choose. We have watched our public education 106 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: system be gutted, the Environmental Protection Agency be gutted. What 107 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 1: climate scientists said would be thirty forty years down the 108 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: road has arrived. It has arrived in yellow skies from 109 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: wildfires and historic tornado seasons that take out full fucking neighborhoods, 110 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: costing billions of dollars, Hurricanes that linger over states and 111 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: islands longer, devastating them. We've seen earthquakes take out thousands 112 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: of people, Migrants sink to the bottom of the sea, 113 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 1: just trying to seek a better life. So much has happened, 114 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 1: and my relationship with this country has shifted in so 115 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: many ways. But you all know who listen to me 116 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: on a daily basis that if I did not love 117 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: America at its core, the idea of America, the idea 118 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: of democracy that we've never seen fully actualized for all 119 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: the people in this country, I wouldn't get up every 120 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: day and turn on a microphone. I wouldn't get up 121 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: every day and turn on my laptop and fire off 122 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: opinion pieces. I wouldn't go on television. I wouldn't bother 123 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: because there would be nobody to convince, because I would 124 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: have no faith and no hope that anyone would ever change. 125 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,839 Speaker 1: But the story of America isn't just in its progress. 126 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:49,479 Speaker 1: It is also in its pain. It is in its resilience, 127 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: But it's also in its toxicity and its abuse. What 128 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: happens when the wrong people are given power because we're 129 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: too tired, too busy, or have lost all hope to care. 130 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: When I look back, as I do every year around 131 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: this time, on Frederick Douglas's speech that he delivered on 132 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: July fifth, eighteen fifty two. He addressed the Rochester Lady's 133 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:42,559 Speaker 1: Anti Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. And every time 134 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: that I read it or have recited it, it really 135 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: takes me abat to one the boldness and the confidence 136 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: of this free black man in the eighteen hundreds to 137 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: be providing a read upon read to the white people 138 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: in attendance. In his eloquence, which you can't say anything 139 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: about this speech other than its eloquence and it's brilliance. 140 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: He really has the audience captivated in the questions that 141 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: he is posing, and he talks about the founding fathers, 142 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 1: and why those in attendance should be proud right that 143 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: these men were heroes, and that they were great men 144 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: to come up with this idea. He says this about 145 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:06,839 Speaker 1: the founding fellow citizens. I am not wanting in respect 146 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the 147 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, 148 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: too great enough to give fame to a great age. 149 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: It does not often happen to a nation to raise 150 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: at one time such a number of truly great men. 151 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: The point from which I am compelled to view them 152 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: is not certainly the most favorable, And yet I cannot 153 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots, 154 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: and heroes. And for the good they did and the 155 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: principles they contended for, I will unite with you to 156 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: honor their memory. They loved their country better than their 157 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: own private interests. And though this is not the highest 158 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: form of human excellence, all will concede that it is 159 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it 160 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: ought to command respect. He who will intelligently laid down 161 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 1: his life for his country is a man whom it 162 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: is not in human nature to despise your fathers, stake 163 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor on the 164 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they 165 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: lost sight of all other interests. That to me is 166 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: the greatest praise and acknowledgment. These were not small minded men. 167 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: These were people who, out of sheer imagination, came up 168 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: right with this idea of forging a new nation that 169 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: would be governed for and by the people, that the 170 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 1: people would not be subjects of a king, that they 171 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: would have a voice. But they did so while in 172 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: the shadows of the formation of this grand idea and 173 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: experiment we call America, having this country be built by 174 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: those who would never know freedom, who were shackled, who 175 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: were raped, who were beaten, who were tortured, who were 176 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: referred to as chattel and treated as animals, whose families 177 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: were destroyed, whose life lives were never actualized except for 178 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 1: what they could produce. It's not lost on those that 179 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:17,719 Speaker 1: are listening to Frederick Douglas now in these times, that 180 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: we have come so far and yet not far enough. 181 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: He goes on to say this, fellow citizens, pardon me, 182 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: allow me to ask why I am called upon to 183 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 1: speak here today? What have I or those I represent 184 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: to do with your national independence? Are the great principles 185 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that 186 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: declaration of independence extended to us? And am I therefore 187 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,679 Speaker 1: called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, 188 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,919 Speaker 1: and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for 189 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: the blessings resulting for your independence to us? Would to God, 190 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: both for your sakes and hours, that an affirmative answer 191 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my 192 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: task be light and my burden be easy and delightful. 193 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy 194 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: could not warm him, Who sob abdorran and dead to 195 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such 196 00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: priceless benefits. Who is so stollied and selfish that would 197 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a 198 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: nation's jubilee when the chains of servitude had been torn 199 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:02,359 Speaker 1: from his limbs. I am not that in a case 200 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,679 Speaker 1: like that, the dumb might eloquently speak and the lame 201 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:13,479 Speaker 1: man leap as in heart. But such is not the 202 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: state of the case. I say it with a sad 203 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 1: sense of the disparity between us. I am not included 204 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: within the pale of the glorious anniversary. Your high independence 205 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in 206 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. 207 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed 208 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. 209 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has 210 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: brought stripes and death to me. This fourth of July 211 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: is yours, not mine. You may rejol. I must mourn 212 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: to drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated 213 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,359 Speaker 1: temple of liberty and call upon him to join you 214 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: in joyous anthems were inhumane mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do 215 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: you mean citizens to mock me by asking me to 216 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 1: speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 217 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: And let me warn you that it is dangerous to 218 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:34,920 Speaker 1: copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up 219 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,359 Speaker 1: to the heaven, were thrown down by the breath of 220 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:44,120 Speaker 1: the Almighty, burying that nation and irrevocable ruin. I can 221 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: today take up the plaintive lament of appealed and woe 222 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: smitten people, fellow citizens, above your national tumultuous joy. I 223 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: hear the mournful wail of milk, whose chains, heavy and 224 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilee 225 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I 226 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 1: do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, 227 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my 228 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: tongue cleave to the rooth of my mouth. To forget them, 229 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,640 Speaker 1: to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in 230 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, 231 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: and would make me a reproach before God and the world. 232 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:44,200 Speaker 1: My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall 233 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 1: see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's 234 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: point of view, standing there, identified with their American bondmen 235 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: making his wrongs. Mind, I do not hesitate to declare 236 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: with all my soul that the character and conduct of 237 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 238 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 1: fourth of July. Folks, For me and for so many 239 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: who are black, who are indigenous, who are people of 240 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: color in this country. Frederick Douglas's words from eighteen fifty 241 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:41,120 Speaker 1: two still ring so damn true in the twenty first century. 242 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:52,400 Speaker 1: While we may not be in physical bondage, the policies 243 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: that this country continues to turn out ensure that we 244 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: remain in slow to a system that has never seen 245 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:10,439 Speaker 1: acknowledge or respected our full humanity and dignity. It is 246 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: absurd to hold deep comparisons between the Black community, whose 247 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: ancestors were stripped of their culture, their religion, their voice, 248 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:28,440 Speaker 1: their freedom, and their language, to be compared to any 249 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: other racialized group in this country, and whatever success they 250 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:42,120 Speaker 1: may have had, America will never truly be a democracy. 251 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: America will never truly live up to its creed until 252 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:54,160 Speaker 1: not only it acknowledges its original sin, but it chooses 253 00:23:54,280 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: to do right by it. The conversation that I had 254 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: with Torrey was one that talked a bit about reparations, 255 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: and I struggle with the conversations around reparations, around asking 256 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,679 Speaker 1: the oppressors of this country to provide charity to those 257 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:28,159 Speaker 1: that they have extracted everything, including life from reparations is 258 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: not asking for philanthropy. It is asking for a return 259 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: with interest on what has been stolen, and until this 260 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: country does that, their Independence Day will always always ring hollow. 261 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: That is it for me today, dear friends, on this 262 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: wokf on this holiday week, this woke app hook out week, 263 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 1: I hope that you all enjoyed the conversations that I 264 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: brought to you by my friends, doctor Christina Greer, the 265 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: Reverend Mark Thompson, Torrey Toshi Reagan. I thank them so 266 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: much for their time, for their brilliance, for their boys, 267 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: for their activism, for their work. And we are not 268 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: free until we are all free as always, dear friends, 269 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: Power to the people and to all the people. Power, 270 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.