Douglass on "Day of Independence"

"Democracy Now" had the 1852 Independence Day speech by Frederick C. Douglass playing today in which he wonders aloud why he was asked to speak when so many non-whites (then both blacks and Native Americans) are disenfranchised from the notion of freedom and liberty.

The words still sting today, not just because of non-whites, but for the many of us who have been disenfranchised under the last four years of "fat rich corporate rights rule". It stings when you realize that media ownership in this country is just 5% minority, even though Latinos are becoming the majority in many parts of the land. It stings when you realize how few Native Americans are left and in what desperate conditions they tend to live (I, too, am part Native American).