ICUJP July 4th - “A New Declaration of Inter-Dependence” in a time of chaos
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." -- Howard Zinn
ICUJP has held over 1,000 forums over our 24 years of existence, from our home at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, to now meeting virtually on Zoom.
This week, instead of an online forum, we are asking all of ICUJP's members on this July 4th holiday to focus on the activism and perseverance that each of us is being called to display at this time in history.
ICUJP's Chairperson, Steve Rohde, has had a piece reprinted in the LA Progressive titled “A New Declaration of Inter-Dependence”. This piece written in 2005 is reprinted today with a new preface by Mr. Rohde:
I wrote the following Declaration of Inter-Dependence 20 years ago, on July 4, 2005, as a member of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace. My purpose then was to condemn the lawlessness of President George W. Bush. Today I was inclined to update it by removing the references to Bush and replacing them with a description of the lawlessness of President Donald J. Trump. Instead, I have decided to publish it as it was, without changing a single word. I want it to stand as a testament to the reality that Trump and his ilk are not some aberration in American history. I also want to remind us that when we fail to hold presidents like Bush accountable, we set a dangerous precedent and invite further abuses of power.
...The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence declares that Governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” No power that a Government purports to exercise is just unless and until the people have consented to grant that power to the Government. Consequently, Governments are not sovereign; they are not free to exercise any and all powers they choose, contrary to the will of the people. This fundamental principle would be reaffirmed thirteen years later in the Constitution and then in the Bill of Rights. It must be reaffirmed today as the Trump Administration attempts to exercise powers, domestically and internationally, to which neither the people nor their elected representatives have consented.
Today, as has been true throughout our history, the defense of democracy must be driven by the power of the people. Yet again We the People cry out “No Kings!”
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
At a time of American Imperialism and Predatory Capitalism fueled by sociopathic oligarchs, a reread of Frederick Douglass' heartfelt words on the failures of this land and what this country can achieve is very much in order.
You can read the entire text of the speech here, on PBS
You can also view a reading of the speech here delivered by five of Frederick Douglass' descendants:
We will be back on July 11th with a great Zoom program featuring Natasha Minsker speaking on the campaign for Universal Clemency for California death sentences.
In the words of John Lewis, make Good Trouble.
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