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| via http://instagr.am/p/lmBFf/ |
This photo, which backgrounds a statue of Thomas Jefferson with the names of the slaves he owned, reminded me of Douglass's address to Congress:
The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. Will you repeat the mistake of your fathers, who sinned ignorantly? or will you profit by the blood-bought wisdom all round you, and forever expel every vestige of the old abomination from our national borders?
Most striking to me is the gap between what Douglass was fighting for in his address and
Jefferson's own, most famous words:
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.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in
the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by
repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act
which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
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