The Week: Independence Day Canada and Louisiana, p. A1
Dublin Core
Title
The Week: Independence Day Canada and Louisiana, p. A1
Description
"Just what does the Fourth of July mean to you ? This question, if put to white citizens of America, would draw such replies as you have heard made in speeches and have read in books all your lives. But, if put directly to you, what would it mean? You [ill.] begin by saying that you are celebrating the 151st anniversary of your independence, for it is now clearly shown that the [ill.] of that memorable document did not have you in mind when they declared that all men “are created free and equal.” Although they didn’t say it, they meant WHITE MEN.
And yet you join their parades, shoot off fireworks and shout along with the rest, celebrating the 151st anniversary of the independence of a country that hold you as slaves when the document was adopted. Even the famous Dred Scott decision, stating that you had no rights which the white man is bound to respect, was handed down long after that document, which you now celebrate was written and made public.
As a matter of fact, you have very little to be jubilant over in the Fourth of July celebrations. Certainly, you could not have been treated worse if America had remained under British domination. The freeing of slaves and the abolishment of slave traffic were effected in the British possession almost half a century before the United States, through a long [ill.] war, brought the practice to a close.
And, today, 60 years after that struggle, it begins to look as if the South won the war. Slavery still exists in Dixie. That has been proved time and time again. Segregation, concubinage, bastardy and disfranchisement flourish as freely as ever. Your good white friends in Dixie are still assigning your places to you, and seeing that you occupy them – even pointing out the rear places in Independence day parades. Then, what have you to be joyful over?
You have no independence. What the white South doesn’t want you to do, you don’t do. What the white South does want you to do, you do. If you assert your independence, you are trying to be smart and get out of your place – a signal for you to be driven out of your home and away from your family, or to stand the consequences of resistance.
Your white folk won the war for independence and your white folk won the war for independence and your white folk won the war of Rebellion, in spite of the fact that you took important parts in both. And still you celebrate. You do not realize that it is high time for you to write a new declaration of independence and to drag the Confederate flag in the dust where it belongs! When you stop falling in line, and get out of the habit of waiting for the white man to tell you what to do and when to do it, you will then have ample time to celebrate independence. Until then, you are just swelling the crowd. Think of this won’t you?
In Canada last week a monument was unveiled to the memory of Joe Fortes, a life guard, who had endeared himself to the people of Vancouver by his many years of service to children on the beaches. Joe Fortes died last year.
In Louisiana, a few weeks ago, a monument was unveiled to the “antebellum Negro” to make permanent the memory of the old slave who served his master so faithfully before the war of Rebellion.
And there you have two types of the human race. In Louisiana, typical of the southern states of the United States, you and your Race have served white people in one capacity or another ever since you were brought there 300 years ago. You have asked for nothing but the right to live and be happy and enjoy yourselves as other men and women do. Certainly you have asked for no monuments commemorating the days when you were in bondage.
In Canada you have always been free. Whatever you could do, you found the opportunity to do it. Joe Fortes was a life guard. He had saved many a child from drowning during his long years of service. And when he died five years ago, all Vancouver stopped to honor him. Funds were made available immediately for a monument for him , and today it stands, a beautiful fountain, testifying to the love and admiration those he served had for him. His monument was erected and dedicated in less time than it has taken the United Sates to erect one for 400,000 soldiers of your Race who served and suffered for her in the last war.
Although you have no life guards in Louisiana, you have saved many a white person’s life on beaches on and off. You have done everything to help him along, and all you get out of it is a monument representing a cringing, scraping slave – an abject creature with his hat in his hand and his head bowed in humility. You get a monument that costs more than is spent on your schools for that town for a whole year. What went into cost of that monument would have sent three boys off to school for a four-year term. It would have helped them to make men and citizens of themselves so that they could return better equipped to help their people.
But that isn’t what white people of Louisiana want. They want you to stay in your place – to remember that you not only once were slaves, but that, in spirit, you are slaves yet. They want you to see the type of person of your Race that they admire – the stooping slave. They don’t want you as men and women – stalwart, upright and strong.
We offer these two examples as types of white people and the psychology that prompts them to do the things they do. And yet, there is one consolation in the slave statue for you. As you pass it, you should remove your hat, bow your head ever so slightly and murmur, “Thank God, you’re gone.” For like the monument to Joe Fortes in Canada, this statue also says that the thing it represents has passed on. You see, there are always two angles to any question. You might as well take the latter one here. Let your good white friends think what they will of it!"
And yet you join their parades, shoot off fireworks and shout along with the rest, celebrating the 151st anniversary of the independence of a country that hold you as slaves when the document was adopted. Even the famous Dred Scott decision, stating that you had no rights which the white man is bound to respect, was handed down long after that document, which you now celebrate was written and made public.
As a matter of fact, you have very little to be jubilant over in the Fourth of July celebrations. Certainly, you could not have been treated worse if America had remained under British domination. The freeing of slaves and the abolishment of slave traffic were effected in the British possession almost half a century before the United States, through a long [ill.] war, brought the practice to a close.
And, today, 60 years after that struggle, it begins to look as if the South won the war. Slavery still exists in Dixie. That has been proved time and time again. Segregation, concubinage, bastardy and disfranchisement flourish as freely as ever. Your good white friends in Dixie are still assigning your places to you, and seeing that you occupy them – even pointing out the rear places in Independence day parades. Then, what have you to be joyful over?
You have no independence. What the white South doesn’t want you to do, you don’t do. What the white South does want you to do, you do. If you assert your independence, you are trying to be smart and get out of your place – a signal for you to be driven out of your home and away from your family, or to stand the consequences of resistance.
Your white folk won the war for independence and your white folk won the war for independence and your white folk won the war of Rebellion, in spite of the fact that you took important parts in both. And still you celebrate. You do not realize that it is high time for you to write a new declaration of independence and to drag the Confederate flag in the dust where it belongs! When you stop falling in line, and get out of the habit of waiting for the white man to tell you what to do and when to do it, you will then have ample time to celebrate independence. Until then, you are just swelling the crowd. Think of this won’t you?
In Canada last week a monument was unveiled to the memory of Joe Fortes, a life guard, who had endeared himself to the people of Vancouver by his many years of service to children on the beaches. Joe Fortes died last year.
In Louisiana, a few weeks ago, a monument was unveiled to the “antebellum Negro” to make permanent the memory of the old slave who served his master so faithfully before the war of Rebellion.
And there you have two types of the human race. In Louisiana, typical of the southern states of the United States, you and your Race have served white people in one capacity or another ever since you were brought there 300 years ago. You have asked for nothing but the right to live and be happy and enjoy yourselves as other men and women do. Certainly you have asked for no monuments commemorating the days when you were in bondage.
In Canada you have always been free. Whatever you could do, you found the opportunity to do it. Joe Fortes was a life guard. He had saved many a child from drowning during his long years of service. And when he died five years ago, all Vancouver stopped to honor him. Funds were made available immediately for a monument for him , and today it stands, a beautiful fountain, testifying to the love and admiration those he served had for him. His monument was erected and dedicated in less time than it has taken the United Sates to erect one for 400,000 soldiers of your Race who served and suffered for her in the last war.
Although you have no life guards in Louisiana, you have saved many a white person’s life on beaches on and off. You have done everything to help him along, and all you get out of it is a monument representing a cringing, scraping slave – an abject creature with his hat in his hand and his head bowed in humility. You get a monument that costs more than is spent on your schools for that town for a whole year. What went into cost of that monument would have sent three boys off to school for a four-year term. It would have helped them to make men and citizens of themselves so that they could return better equipped to help their people.
But that isn’t what white people of Louisiana want. They want you to stay in your place – to remember that you not only once were slaves, but that, in spirit, you are slaves yet. They want you to see the type of person of your Race that they admire – the stooping slave. They don’t want you as men and women – stalwart, upright and strong.
We offer these two examples as types of white people and the psychology that prompts them to do the things they do. And yet, there is one consolation in the slave statue for you. As you pass it, you should remove your hat, bow your head ever so slightly and murmur, “Thank God, you’re gone.” For like the monument to Joe Fortes in Canada, this statue also says that the thing it represents has passed on. You see, there are always two angles to any question. You might as well take the latter one here. Let your good white friends think what they will of it!"
Creator
N/A
Publisher
The Chicago Defender
Date
1927-7-9
Collection
Citation
N/A, “The Week: Independence Day Canada and Louisiana, p. A1,” African American Fourth of July, accessed April 29, 2024, https://africanamerican4th.omeka.net/items/show/88.