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My guess, especially given his hopeful conclusion, is that ifDouglass was alive today he would speak about America in a way that resembles Obama's depictionin the body of his public remarks over 20 yearsin the broadest sense. Neither would ignore the horrific crimes of the past, nor the way the legacy of those crimes continues to resonate. Neither would shrink from highlighting the continuing, fresh injustices being visited on African Americans and members of other non-white groups today. But both would present a nuanced narrativeone full of struggle and loss, yet also one of hope and gradual progress toward a goal for which we continue to reach. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama asserted that on civil rights "things have gotten better," yet added: "better isnt good enough."

Meteor Blades is right to identify Frederick Douglass as a hero. Along a similar vein, Michael Lind characterized him in The Next American Nation as"perhaps the greatest American of any race, of any century." It's highly appropriate in 2016 to remember Douglass's 1852 speech, especially on July 4. I want to reinforce that here. What I am also doing here is using Meteor Blades' post about Douglass as a jumping-off point for a relatedbut differentdiscussion.

From a political perspective, we on the left have to be wary of allowing our public rhetoric to focus primarily on feelings of alienation from this country. This isnt trying to tell anyone how they should feel. No one should do that. This is about what we publish and proclaim, and the strategic value thereof. What we cannot do, what Douglass himself did not doas seen in the conclusion to his 1852 speechis cede patriotism and an embrace of America to the right wing. This is a crucial point I've written about previously:

Michael Lind wrote further about the importance of embracing an inclusive, singular national narrative of our country's history with which Americans of every background can identify as their own:

Even in writing this, I want to be crystal clear about what I'm sayingso that nothing is misconstrued. I'm emphatically not saying that Meteor Blades or anyone else should tone down their criticisms of this country's flaws or injustices, whether in the present or the past. To be more specific, I am notsaying that black or brown or red or yellow or gay folks, or anyone who feels marginalized should keep their thoughts to themselves because they might scare the straight white folks.

But we must find a way to do what needs doing, to shine a light on the problems and injustices in our country, while still publicly embracing a commitment to the whole country, the whole community. We have to do both of those things at the same time, over and over again, in order to get our point across and persuade people to join our movement. If we don't do that, we can't solve those problems and fix those injustices.

As politically engaged progressives, we know that this country can and must do better on a whole host of different fronts, and that in order to do so we need to understand our history in full. A history, however, that emphasizes only our crimes and ignores the progress is but the mirror image of one that does the oppositeone that solely bathes our history in glory and righteousness. And if those are the only two options, many middle-of-the-road Americans, in particular whites but others as well, are likely to be more attracted to the Pollyanna-ish view simply because it sounds more familiar and makes them feels better.

As survey data from the Public Religion Research Institute makes clear, Donald Trump certainly appeals to those who are likely attracted to such a view, those who see America as having veered away from what once made it great. As Ronald Brownstein explained, Trumps emergence represents a triumph for the most ardent elements in the GOPs coalition of restoration, voters who are resistant to demographic change. This is certainly just as true in 2017 as it was during the presidential campaign.

We progressives have to make sure that we present a balanced picture. That way we can get those people who sometimes forget about the crimes our country has committed to remember them and to work toward reversing their effects, rather than dismiss our criticisms as somehow "anti-American" because we talk only about the negatives. We have to present our case as representing the true American values, and contrast them to the values of those whom we oppose. This is the way Barack Obama speaks about America's past, present and future. We can see this approach in his remarks of July 4, 2012:

That first paragraph represents what Obama, during his eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston, called an "honest accounting of America's history." The next two paragraphs connect his vision of America and its core values to the policies he is proposing going forwardpast, present, future.

Those who have fought for equality have long sought to connect that idea to America's fundamental principles, to our own history. Frederick Douglass did it, even in the speech discussed above, as did the black abolitionist David Walker a generation earlier, who called on us to "Hear your languages, proclaimed to the world, July 4th, 1776." So did Martin Luther King Jr. in his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," where he predicted that the civil rights movement would succeed because "the goal of America is freedom," and in his "I Have A Dream" speech, in which he proclaimed that the dream he described that day was "deeply rooted in the American dream." So did Harvey Milk when he said: "All men are created equal. Now matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about. So did Barbara Jordan, who noted, "What the people want is simple. They want an America as good as its promise." And so did Barack Obama in Selma, at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March, when he identified those who walked and bled on that bridge as the ones who truly represented what America is supposed to be:

Progressives must criticize, that is crucial. But we must also inspire, because inspiration is how we motivate action.

[This is a revised and updated version of an essay I have posted previously on July 4.]

Ian Reifowitz is the author of Obamas America: A Transformative Vision of Our National Identity (Potomac Books).

Originally posted here:
How progressives talk about July 4 and our national history - Daily Kos