Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born in 1817 or 1818.  He did not know as slave birthdays were not recorded or considered to be important.  He was separated from his mother while a toddler and only saw her occasionally, as she was sent to work on a different plantation.  His mother died when he was around 7 years old.  Of course, it was common to separate children from parents, as that diminished familial ties, which could be a support for a slave.  Better for slaves to view themselves as alone in the world and dependent upon the goodwill of their master.  As far as Frederick's life as a slave went, his was less onerous than most he witnessed.  While still a boy, he was sent to be a house servant in Baltimore.  The lady of the house started teaching him to read.  However, when this was discovered, she was ordered to stop.  She had never had a slave and, by default, had treated him as a person.  As time went along, she adopted the mentality of a slave owner, thus corrupting herself and denying Frederick his humanity.  Frederick came to view slavery as dehumanizing to both the slave and the slave owner.  As a teen, he was sent back to the plantation and tangled with various overseers.  Sent to work the farm of a man noted for breaking slaves, he offered resistance.  To his surprise, the man let it slide.  Had his failure with Frederick become public knowledge, his reputation for breaking slaves would be ruined.  Once again, Frederick was sent to Baltimore and was now taught the trade of caulking ships on the wharf.  He became an independent contractor, finding jobs and receiving pay.  Of course, he had to give all the money to his owner but he did have some degree of independence.  White caulkers did not appreciate him and had beaten him.  His first effort to flee to the north was undermined by another slave.  He eventually did escape, but he does not offer details as it would reveal sources and methods; this narrative was written in 1845.  Once in the north, he still had to be concerned with being grabbed and sent back south.  He relocated to Connecticut and resumed his trade of caulking.  Soon, he was involved in the abolition movement and offered speaking engagements.

The most interesting thing about the book was Douglass's stating that slavery was as spiritually harmful to the slave owner as the slave.  He was particularly irked by religious men who defended slavery or owned slaves.  Despite being a slave, he felt sorry for the woman who set him on the path to literacy; becoming part of the slave owning class, she was twisted from a generous and kind woman into someone who could accept the cruel institution.  This is an excellent read and highly recommended.

Civil War 2020

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

The United States has a particular history that has shaped it to be what it is today.  Some of that history is good.  Some of that history is bad.  On balance, it is more good than bad and has resulted in the most benevolent and selfless nation the world has ever seen.  A lot of people don't see it that way.  As luck would have it, Orwell provided a road map for them to use: Control the past.

Columbus discovered the new world.  Vilify him and tear him down.  Done!

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.  Discredit him and tear him down.  In progress.

George Washington won the Revolutionary War and served as first President of the United States.  Maximize his faults and ignore his achievements.  In progress.

James Madison is the Father of the Constitution.  Discredit him.  On the to-do list.

If you can recast the Founders as villains rather than heroes, you can then discard what they wrought.  How can you revere a Declaration that was written by slave owners?  How can you live under a Constitution that was drafted by a bunch of elite white men, half of whom owned slaves?  Tear it all down!

But Frederick Douglass used the Declaration and the Constitution to bolster his abolitionist oratory.  How can you say that all men are created equal when slavery exists?  To be true to the founding documents, slavery had to end.  Then tear down Frederick Douglass!

Martin Luther King referred to the Constitution and the Declaration when he said the Founders signed "a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir."  The Founders had outlined great and noble ideas but did not live up to them.  Nor did many generations afterwards live up to those ideals but progress has been made.

In 1967, Rudi Dutschke proposed a strategy for subverting society by infiltrating institutions.  He called this the long march through the institutions.  The long march is essentially complete in the United States.  The media is almost wholly owned by the left.  Higher education is controlled by the left and churns out ignorant youth who gladly tear down statues.  Most agencies in the government at every level are controlled by the left; is it any wonder that government has mostly stood aside as chaos has gripped the nation.

Lincoln warned that the United States would not fall to a foreign threat.  If we fall, it is because we destroyed ourselves.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

Abraham Lincoln

Are we on the brink of America's second civil war?  Maybe.

The War on Statues

Here stood a statue of Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who became a noted abolitionist, writer, and orator.  Clearly, this is a great blow against police brutality!  At this rate, the war on statues will soon be defacing the Martin Luther King monument in Washington DC.