Where is the love?

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour." ~ Frederick Douglass~

Wow! Talk about raining on our parade. That Douglass was one angry black man. Back then he had every right to be. But should we [black folks] be angry, today? Aren't we living in the greatest country on earth? And didn't we just elect a black president? He promised change, but, sadly, A-merry-ca still feels the same. Some of the people in A-merry-ca seem to be angrier and even more hateful.

For those of us fortunate enough to share in the A-merry-can dream, A-merry-ca is all we could ask for. For others,on the other hand, the dream continues to be elusive.

I think that one of the problems with A-merry-ca is the selfish nature of those of us who have managed to move forward. There is no empathy or love for the folks who have been left behind. "Hope" and "change" was supposed to change all of that. It didn't.  

Mrs. Field is coming, (hey, I am still on vacation, I shouldn't be blogging) so I will leave you with the words of one of my heroes:

"We talk of change, What is change? Change is the willingness to look at your system and have the courage to know what is wrong. More is not change. Change is to reorder the values of your life. Change is having a vision of a new hope for society...The system by which we can achieve power for our people and freedom that is a change. The means where people sacrifice now for a great day tomorrow, where we will march together in the name of work, in the name of justice, because the word is LOVE." ~ Michael Manley~

Happy Birthday, A-merry-ca. I just hope that we will start learning to love each other more than we love you.