OPINION: Without the 14th Amendment, the Fourth of July is merely a holiday for the white entrepreneurial/ownership class

On July 4th, millions of Americans, including those of African origins, will be celebrating the independence of the United States of America from England. On that matter, however, Frederick Douglass of course asked an appropriate question: “What did the celebration have to do with him as a Black man?” That question is still relevant, and relevant to all who are not a part of the ownership/entrepreneurial class.

To derive an appropriate answer, it is important to understand what happened on July 4th. On that date in 1776, American revolutionary leaders announced their independence from England, starting a war resulting in such a reality in September 1783. It meant white Americans rather than white British subjects were then freed to seize the Indian people’s land and to enslave African people to work and develop it for their enrichment. 

Not Native Americans (Indian peoples), Africans, or even working-class white people benefitted from the transfer of sovereignty. Working class whites were thrown into the mix and began seeing themselves as appropriate celebrants at a later date through the evolving and refined concept of White Supremacy.

African Americans were nowhere a part of the mix until Congress ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on July 9, 1868. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 had made that abundantly clear, stating Black people had no rights that a white man was bound to respect. 

The Fourteenth Amendment transformed the Africans who were born in America into American citizens and extended to them the rights guaranteed to other American citizens. Thus, the intent of the Amendment and the way in which it is written, if and when it is implemented, would at last give African American people a reason to be proud of America’s development as a constitutional democracy. It offered them some reason to celebrate the 4th of July. Please note that the ratification of the Amendment was 16 years after Douglass refused to join the 4th of July celebration and 92 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement that African Americans be recognized as citizens and treated the same as other citizens made a difference in how the 4th of July was perceived. As a consequence, generations of African Americans have celebrated as hardily as did European Americans. 

That attitude, however, has not been universal. Many African Americans had to endure the terrorism, war, and atrocities that overthrew Reconstruction and established Jim Crow. Many have watched the erosion of the Amendment, as in the case of Plessey vs. Ferguson. Many have witnessed the reluctant passage and rapid circumvention of civil rights laws that were based upon the Fourteenth Amendment.

This year, 249 years after American leaders declared themselves independent, conditions have deteriorated to such an extent that many African Americans question not just the past transgressions of America toward African Americans, but the country’s commitment to upholding the principles of the Fourteenth Amendment, foremost among them being the promotion of a multi-racial democracy. 

The assaults on education, in general, but Black history, in particular, and the crippling and destruction of various health and human services agencies, the determination to wipe out all traces of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and the effort to give free reign to states over human rights of all types each detracts from the intent and effectiveness of the Fourteenth Amendment.

It is apparent the Trump drive toward full-scale fascism continues. Based upon that, America can easily return to the point wherein the 4th of July is merely a holiday for the ownership/entrepreneurial class.