What is the Meaning to Humanity of the Fourth of July in the Time of Trump? by Paul Street
June 19, 2026 What is the Meaning to Humanity of the Fourth of July in the Time of Trump? Paul Street Facebook Twitter Reddit Bluesky Email Image by Trent Yarnell. In his haunting July 5, 1852 speech titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?,” the great abolitionist and escaped slave Frederick Douglass said this to United States Americans about the national birthday they had just hailed in the name of freedom and equality: “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… mere bombast, fraud, deception, a thin veil to cover up crimes, which would disgrace a nation of savages.” These are words worth revisiting as the United Stated prepares to celebrate its 250 th anniversary two weeks. What is the meaning of the Declaration of Independence’s rhetoric about people’s rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to immigrant...
