January 11, 2017 The Skanner Page 5
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Blackonomics: What is Constitutional Patriotism? The
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By James Clingman
NNPA News Wire Columnist
M
artin Luther King, Jr. said,
“…we have come to our
nation’s capital to cash a
check. When the architects
of our republic wrote the magnifi-
cent words of the Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissory
note to which every American was
to fall heir.” He went on to say, “I
have a dream that one day this na-
tion will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed.”
It is said that we should carefully
choose the words we use, because
we may have to eat them one day.
That is the case with words written
by this nation’s founders. The only
problem is, even though several
have brought attention to those
“
of throwing off the tyranny of King
George. In reference to the Dec-
laration, Walker stated, “Do you
understand your own language?
Compare your own language …
extracted from your Declaration
of Independence, with your cruel-
ties and murders inflicted by your
cruel and unmerciful fathers and
yourselves on our fathers and on
us — men who have never given
your fathers or you the least prov-
ocation!”
Walker continued, particularly
referring to the abuses of the King
and the right and obligation of the
colonies to throw off such govern-
ment. “Hear your language fur-
ther … I ask you candidly, [were]
your sufferings under Great Brit-
ain one hundredth part as cruel
and tyrannical as you have ren-
dered ours under you?”
This Fourth [of ] July is yours, not mine.
You may rejoice, I must mourn
words, little or nothing has been
done to change or enforce their
intent when it comes to Black peo-
ple. The words to which I refer are
found in the documents written by
a cadre of men held in highest es-
teem who supposedly had the best
intentions for “all” other men in
this country.
David Walker’s Appeal, in 1829,
turned the words of the Decla-
ration of Independence back on
those who celebrated the victory
Later,
Frederick
Douglass
cited the words of the Declara-
tion and Constitution in his fa-
mous speech in 1852, “What to
the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Douglass said the Fourth of July
was a day of celebration for White
Americans but a day of mourning
for slaves and former slaves like
him, because they were reminded
of the unfulfilled promise of equal
liberty for all in the Declaration of
Independence. “This Fourth [of ]
July is yours, not mine. You may
rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a
man in fetters into the grand illu-
minated temple of liberty, and call
upon him to join you in joyous an-
thems, were inhuman mockery
and sacrilegious irony.”
The words written and spoken
by the founders of these United
States were important, and I trust
sincere, but sometimes in order to
have accountability for the words
people say, especially politicians’
words, they must be recanted and
rewritten by those to whom those
words apply. That is why the One
Million Conscious Black Voters
and Contributors will insist on
verbal and written support of its
political planks by any political
candidate seeking our votes.
When put together just right
way, words can have serious, con-
sequential effects on people. When
Thomas Jefferson used words that
attacked slavery in his draft of the
Declaration of Independence he
initiated the most intense debate
among the delegates gathered at
Philadelphia in the spring and
early summer of 1776. Jefferson’s
passage on slavery was the most
important section removed from
the final document. It was replaced
with a more ambiguous passage
about King George’s incitement
of “domestic insurrections among
us.”
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