The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro: A Speech by Frederick Douglass
Posted: July 4, 2017 Filed under: Education, History, Think Tank, U.S. News | Tags: abolitionist, African Americans, Airstrike, American lager, Anna Wintour, Anwar al-Awlaki, Frederick Douglass, Independence Day (United States), Slavery, United States Leave a comment
Former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, gives a scathing address about the true meaning of Independence Day to the negro.
Jemar Tisby writes: No other phrase in the founding documents of the United States stings an African American as much as this one: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The Declaration of Independence was not a declaration for all but for some. “All men” did not include people of African descent. “Unalienable rights” were stripped from those who were taken from their homeland and forced into lifelong servitude. And “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” could not be pursued at the end of a chain.
The former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, gave a speech on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, NY commemorating the day of independence for the United States. Cognizant of the contradictions embedded into the foundation of the United States, Douglass expounded for his audience the significance of “independence” day for black people. In it, he loses no respect for the founders of the nation calling them “statesmen, patriots, and heroes.” But he does not fail to point out the hypocrisy of declaring freedom from Britain’s control while subjugating an entire race of people.
Below are some excerpts from Douglass’ speech. His words remind us that for some Americans, independence ends with an asterisk.
Read the full text of the speech here.
“I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us.”
“This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.”
“My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave’s point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July!” Read the rest of this entry »
Austrian ‘Poster Girl for ISIS’ Jihadi Bride Beaten to Death After Trying to Escape ISIS
Posted: November 24, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Religion, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Airstrike, Al-Raqqah, Associated Press, Bashar al-Assad, Bombardment, Islamic state, Palmyra, Syria, Syrian Army, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Leave a comment
Chris Perez reports: One of the two teens who fled Austria last year to become a “poster girl” for ISIS has been beaten to death after trying to escape the group’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, reports say.
A Tunisian woman who had been living with Samra Kesinovic, 18, says the young girl was killed by Islamic State extremists after she tried to flee recently, according to The Local Austria.
Kesinovic and her friend Sabina Selimovic, 15, made headlines in April 2014 when they ran away from their homes in Vienna and shacked up with militants in Syria. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Raw: French Jets Takeoff for Raqqa Airstrike
Posted: November 15, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, France, Mediasphere, Space & Aviation, War Room | Tags: Airstrike, Al-Raqqah, Archived Footage, Britons (Celtic people), Eid al-Adha, François Hollande, France Attacks, ISIS, Islamic state, media, Middle East, Muslim, news, Palmyra, Paris, Syria, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Terrorism Leave a commentThe original video posted here is no longer available. (it appeared here as a broken link) As a substitute, the above video is of fighter jets taking off from France, en route to Raqqa.
Aftermath footage of 30 airstrikes conducted by France targeting the outskirts of IS controlled Raqqa
BREAKING: Algeria Gas Plant Attack Leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar Killed by U.S. Air Strike
Posted: June 14, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: ABC News, Airstrike, al Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Algeria, Libya, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, North Africa, Politics of Libya, The Pentagon 1 Comment
A senior Islamist militant who ordered the deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant two years ago has been killed in a US air strike, Libyan officials say
Mokhtar Belmokhtar and other fighters were killed in the operation, a statement from Libya‘s government said.
However, there have been several false reports of his death in the past.
The Pentagon said it had targeted a “mid-level” al-Qaeda operative, giving few details.
It said Saturday’s operation had been successful but did not name the target, saying officials were still assessing whether it had been successful.
Notoriety
Born in Algeria, Belmokhtar was a former senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), but left to form his own militia. Read the rest of this entry »
Experts Say Best Option Now Is Keeping Nation As Comfortable As Possible Till End
Posted: June 9, 2015 Filed under: Economics, Humor, Mediasphere | Tags: 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, Act of Congress, Afghanistan, African American, Airstrike, Articles of Confederation, Demographics of the United States, Economy of the United States, The Onion, United States, United States Navy 1 Comment
WASHINGTON—Saying there were no other options remaining and that continued intervention would only prolong the nation’s suffering, experts concluded Tuesday that the best course of action is to keep the United States as comfortable as possible until the end.
“We need to accept the fact that the U.S. doesn’t have long—simply helping it pass that time in comfort is the humane thing to do.”
According to those familiar with its condition, the country’s long, painful decline over the past several decades has made it clear that the most compassionate choice at this juncture is to do whatever is possible to ensure America is at ease during its last moments.
“Attempting to stabilize the country in its current enfeebled state would not only be extremely expensive, but it would also cause unnecessary agony as it enters this final stage.”
— Economist Danielle Martin
“We need to accept the fact that the U.S. doesn’t have long—simply helping it pass that time in comfort is the humane thing to do,” said economist Danielle Martin, speaking on behalf of a large group of experts ranging from sociologists and historians to lawmakers and environmentalists, all of whom confirmed they had “done everything [they] could.” “Attempting to stabilize the country in its current enfeebled state would not only be extremely expensive, but it would also cause unnecessary agony as it enters this final stage. Read the rest of this entry »
CENSORSHIP: From Animal Cartoons to Opposition to the Death Penalty: Just About Anything Can Land You in Prison in Iran
Posted: June 8, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Censorship, Comics, Global | Tags: Airstrike, Barack Obama, Burma, Desmond Tutu, Human rights defender, Hunger strike, Iran, José Ramos-Horta, Middle East, Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize, Pakistan, Rakhine State, Rohingya people, Shirin Ebadi, Syria, United Nations, United States Leave a comment
Atena Farghadani has been sentenced to an astonishing twelve years and nine months in prison on spurious charges of ‘spreading propaganda against the system,’ ‘insulting members of the parliament through paintings’ and ‘insulting the Supreme Leader’ because of her cartoon.
Elsie Auerbach reports: It seems that not one single thing escapes the attention of hardliners in Iran, bent on using the extraordinary powers they hold to suppress every effort by Iranians to exercise their right to freedom of expression. They have even decreed that men should refrain from sporting various hairdos and—yes I am not kidding—from plucking their eyebrows, because those are considered to be indications of “devil worshipping” and homosexuality.
“She was detained for three months in 2012 and eventually given a medical release because of serious health problems including seizures and temporary loss of vision, exacerbated because of the stressful and sub-standard conditions prevailing in Iran’s prisons.”
Although such preoccupations may seem risible to some, the people who are caught up in this dragnet are suffering very real and harsh consequences.
[Also see – CENSORSHIP: She’s 28. She Drew a Cartoon. Now She’s On Trial in Iran. #freeAtena]
Atena Farghadani is a 28-year-old artist and women’s rights activist. She drew a cartoon depicting some members of Iran’s Majles (Parliament) with animal heads, as a form of protest against bills that are in different stages of moving through the parliamentary process that, in an effort to boost child-bearing, would among other things, restrict access to contraception and establish preferences in hiring for married women over single women.
“She has spent eight of the last ten months in prison since her original arrest last August; her trial in one of Iran’s notoriously unfair Revolutionary Courts started on May 19. She went on a hunger strike in February 2015 to protest her detention in poor conditions and suffered a heart attack.”
We just learned that she has been sentenced to an astonishing twelve years and nine months in prison on spurious charges of “spreading propaganda against the system,” “insulting members of the parliament through paintings” and “insulting the Supreme Leader” because of her cartoon. She is also being charged with “gathering and colluding with deviant groups” because she has met with the families of those killed by government agents in the unrest following the 2009 presidential elections and because of an art exhibition she held which was attended by members of Iran’s persecuted Baha’i community.
“While she was in prison last fall she was so anxious to express herself, even behind bars and deprived of art supplies, that she attempted to use small paper cups to create art. For this she was subjected to abusive treatment by prison guards.”
She has spent eight of the last ten months in prison since her original arrest last August; her trial in one of Iran’s notoriously unfair Revolutionary Courts started on May 19. She went on a hunger strike in February 2015 to protest her detention in poor conditions and suffered a heart attack.
“They have even decreed that men should refrain from sporting various hairdos and—yes I am not kidding—from plucking their eyebrows, because those are considered to be indications of “devil worshipping” and homosexuality.”
While she was in prison last fall she was so anxious to express herself, even behind bars and deprived of art supplies, that she attempted to use small paper cups to create art. For this she was subjected to abusive treatment by prison guards. Read the rest of this entry »
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz: Iran’s Negotiating Triumph Over Obama and America
Posted: April 3, 2015 Filed under: Diplomacy, Think Tank, War Room, White House | Tags: Airstrike, Iran, Iraq, Iraq War, Iraqi Army, Islamic state, Saddam Hussein, Shia Islam, Tehran, Tikrit, United States Leave a comment
The U.S. is surrendering control of verification to the United Nations, where our influence is weak
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz write: President Obama believes that the nuclear “framework” concluded Friday in Switzerland is a historic achievement. Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, says he believes the same. Those two positions are incompatible.
“The American, French and Israeli governments have compiled fat files on the clerical regime’s nuclear-weapons drive. No one who has read this material can possibly believe Iranian assertions about the nuclear program’s peaceful birth and intent.”
Mr. Zarif is also a loyal servant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,who believes that the West, in particular the U.S., and Iran are locked in a “collision of evil and evil ways on one side and the path of…religious obedience and devotion on the other,” as he said in July 2014.
“The inspections regime in Iran envisioned by the Obama administration will not even come close to the intrusiveness of the failed inspections in Iraq.”
The supreme leader says the Islamic Republic has a divine calling to lead Muslims away from the West and its cultural sedition. The Obama administration has never adequately explained why Mr. Zarif’s relentlessly ideological boss would sell out a three-decade effort to develop nuclear weapons.
“Worse, once sanctions are lifted and billions of dollars of Iranian trade starts to flow again to European and Asian companies, the U.S. likely will be dealing with a U.N. even more politically divided, and more incapable of action, than in the days of Saddam and the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003.”
The defensive and offensive strategies of the Islamic Republic, given the chronic weakness of its conventional military, ultimately make sense only if nuclear weapons are added to the mix. The American, French and Israeli governments have compiled fat files on the clerical regime’s nuclear-weapons drive. No one who has read this material can possibly believe Iranian assertions about the nuclear program’s peaceful birth and intent. The history of this effort has involved North Korean levels of dishonesty, with clandestine plants, factories and procurement networks that successfully import highly sensitive nuclear equipment, even from the U.S.
A White House less desperate to make a deal would consider how easily nuclear agreements with bad actors are circumvented. Charles Duelfer has written a trenchant account in Politico of how Saddam Hussein tied the United Nations Security Council and its nuclear inspectors into knots in the 1990s, rendering them incapable of ascertaining the truth about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: ISIS Kidnap at Least 90 People from Christian Villages in Syria
Posted: February 24, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Religion, War Room | Tags: Airstrike, Al-Raqqah, Aleppo, Ayn al-Arab, Iraqi Kurdistan, Islamic state, Kurdish people, Multi-National Force – Iraq, Syria, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Leave a comment
Sources say at least 90 have been abducted – mainly women and children. Up to 3,000 people are said to have been ‘displaced’ as a result of the raid
Julian Robinson reporting for MailOnline: Islamic State militants have kidnapped at least 90 people from Christian villages in Syria, it has been revealed.
The abductions are said to have taken place after ISIS seized two Assyrian villages from Kurdish forces in the northeast province of Hassakeh.
ISIS parades ‘Kurdish Peshmerga’ fighters in cages before mob
Dawn raids are reported to have happened on Monday in villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority near the town of Tel Hmar, a mainly Assyrian town, in the western countryside of the city.
The kidnappings were revealed by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The latest offensive coincides with a push by Syrian Kurds in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border since Sunday that had compounded losses for the militant group in Syria.
Brutal: The raid comes Isis murdered 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya
Sources are reported to have told the human rights watchdog that jihadists swooped to abduct dozens of civilians from the village of Tal Shamiram.
Initial reports put the figure at 56 – but others said the number was much higher.
The International Business Times quoted Nuri Kino, founder of A Demand for Action (ADFA), as saying the Syrian villages had been attacked at 5am with 3,000 people ‘displaced’. Read the rest of this entry »
Libya’s ISIS fighters Burn ‘UnIslamic’ Drums
Posted: February 18, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, War Room | Tags: Airstrike, BBC, Copts, Derna, Egypt, Islam, Islamic state, Islamism, Libya, Sirte 4 Comments
Flora Drury For Mailonline: ISIS in Libya have released pictures of armed fighters burning musical instruments as the extremist group continues its propaganda assault in the north African country.
Pictures of the heavily armed masked militants watching while a pile of drums burnt in the Libyan desert were released earlier today – purportedly by the ‘media wing’ of the local group.
It is understood the brightly coloured instruments had been confiscated by the religious police, and were destroyed near the port city of Derna, in eastern Libya.
‘Unislamic’: The group claims it burned the drums because it believes music is against their religion
Seized: A statement said the instruments were ‘burnt in accordance with Islamic law’
A message released with the pictures explains: ‘Hesbah seized these un-Islamic musical instruments in the state of Warqa (we call it the city of Derna).
It adds they were ‘burnt in accordance with Islamic law’.
Whether or not it actually is has been a point of some debate in the Islamic world, but Libya’s ISIS recruits are not the first to burn instruments. Read the rest of this entry »
Sick Freaks: Captured Jordanian Pilot Burned Alive in a Cage by Islamic State Fighters
Posted: February 3, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Airstrike, Barack Obama, India, Iraq, Islamic state, Michelle Obama, Middle East, Mu'ath al-Kasasbeh, Saudi Arabia, Syria, The Wall Street Journal, White House 2 Comments
Releases Video Depicts Captured Jordanian Pilot Burned Alive
Asa Fitch, Suha Ma’ayeh and Maria Abi-Habib report:
Islamic State jihadists released a video on Tuesday purporting to show captured Jordanian air force pilot First Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh burned alive, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
If the video is authentic, the killing would mark the first time Islamic State has used burning to execute a high-profile prisoner.
The 22-minute video, which SITE said was distributed via Twitter , begins with footage of Jordanian involvement in a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State’s spread, before showing a man with a black eye who appears to be Lt. Kasasbeh describing Jordan’s military operations.
The video ends with the apparent execution of the man. He is shown being burned alive inside a cage by Islamic State fighters.
Lt. Mu’ath al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State group’s fighters after they shot down a warplane from the U.S.-led coalition near Raqqa city, Syria PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
SITE, an organization that tracks extremist activities, has verified numerous Islamic State videos in the past that later proved to be authentic, but government authorities have yet to declare the latest video is genuine.
BREAKING: #ISIS burns Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasba in it’s latest video pic.twitter.com/tVEcv3OYVN
— Conflict News (@rConflictNews) February 3, 2015
If the video is authentic, the killing would mark the first time Islamic State has used burning to execute a high-profile prisoner. The group has beheaded numerous high-profile hostages in the past, including two Japanese men in the past two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
