By Michael Tyler, EJS Poet-in-Residence
I would be willing to wager, despite the severely diminished regard for history in the nation, that better than half of the adult population of the United States can recite some, if not all of the most often quoted line from the Declaration of Independence, the one that begins with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident”. Many fewer people would be able to identify that line as being part of the second paragraph of that famous document and not its opening sentence. Moreover, even fewer still would be able to recite beyond the words “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
I bring this up not to troll the citizens of this country, about their knowledge of the most important document our nation was founded on. I do so because despite their glaring imperfections and blatant hypocrisies, regarding everyone being created equally and endowed by our mutual creator with inalienable rights, the authors of the Declaration of Independence did rather eloquently and astutely write with lofty, egalitarian and rational principles in mind. As such, even in the wording of this founding document, they cautioned about what is currently happening in our country, for the events unfolding before us now have happened many times throughout the course of human history. Autocracy, despotism, kleptocracy, oligarchy, tyranny, apartheid and fascism are not newfangled political realities born in the age of social media.
There is one particular passage in the Declaration of Independence, found in the second paragraph, that gives a warning, if not a remedy, to all citizens about the rise of any form of government that threatens the part between, “We hold these truths…the pursuit of happiness. It’s prescription reads:
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Such foresight of instruction is the thought byproduct of people with a revolutionary intention for self-determination. I say “revolutionary” as I define “revolution”: any event or rapidly occurring series of events that galvanizes a massive amount of people, in a brief period of time, to create a permanent change.” Even though our current form of government is now gravely threatened, we still managed to permanently detach ourselves from the monarchy of British rule.
Today, as we acknowledge the 249th anniversary of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, we would all do well to reread the document, if not in its entirety at least the first two paragraphs, for never has it been more applicable to, in our right and of our duty to alter, abolish and throw off any form of government that will lead us to the abuses and usurpations of despotism. But it will require us to renew and reignite a revolutionary spirit and conviction to embrace the distinction between “Americanism” and “patriotism”, and to then pursue a conduct to advance one over the other.
Americanism is an ideology based on a set of values and views about what it means to be an American. From the inception of this nation, that meaning was not meant to include the indigenous people of this land, nor the forced immigration of people in bondage to build this nation, nor the more than one-half of our population disenfranchised and subjugated as second-class citizens by gender defamation. Consequently, what it means to be an American has always been and intentionally meant to be what defines the national identity, legal personage, authoritative dominion and self-bequeathed privilege of White men as a proprietary claim.
Patriotism is an ideology based on a set of principles and beliefs about what constitutes one’s love, devotion and allegiance to country, and all that preserves and protects our country from the very threat described in the Declaration of Independence. It is this doctrine of thought that our country has yet to comprehend, acknowledge, respect, democratize and apply as what must supersede any other distinction to be made about our citizenry, for only patriotism recognizes any individual who upholds such principles and beliefs to be fully human and justly deserving of being recognized by the self-evident truths that we are all equal and endowed with inalienable rights.
I assert this because as Americans, we are only united by one simple thing, our mutual consent to a common constitution. That mutuality does not subjectify race, creed, gender or sexuality to be the shared agreement exclusive to one group aligned and identified by race, creed, gender and sexuality. Mutuality is the objectivity of our commonality, what is universally inherent in each of us as human beings and all that is indistinguishable in that claim. But in order for the goal of patriotism to be pursued, to reconcile the morass we are in, we must realize that “democracy” and “democratic” are not magical incantations to be evoked to repel the nefarious aspirations of people with undemocratic intentions. What is democracy and what is democratic is not homeostatic. They describe a continuous effort for the equilibrium of an equality and justice daily challenged, by the dynamic and volatile stresses of motivations that seek to standardize a bias to establish a rule.
Furthermore, we must understand that amnesia is the color of the ink, in the pen of bigotry. This is why the Declaration of Independence could be written by men as duplicitous and hypocritical in their design as to insult, contradict and undermine the verity and integrity of the words they penned. This is what Frederick Douglas conveyed in his famous Independence Day address, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”, delivered on July 5, 1852:
Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.
I am not deluded by the implausible notion that this nation will collectively awaken to an en masse moment of reflection, which will spawn an era of critical thinking and empathy required to transform a democracy that still remains trapped in the ideological words written by double-dealing men. To reconcile this, we must comprehend that we are a nation in need of another revolution, and as prescribed by the document we have set aside this holiday to commemorate, we the People must bring it about. So, as history is often repeated, we must again make a Declaration of Independence from the destructive agents of democracy that imperil us now.
At this moment, we need so much more than peaceful disobedience and civil resistance. Such actions will only keep the spirit-filled choir singing in tune, while the majority of folks sitting in the ideological congregation just keep returning home after the service praying for deliverance. We need a revolution of conscience to create a permanent conviction to the rule of law, for the precedence of truth and an equally rendered accountability to the integrity and intention of uncompromising morality, unassailable ethics, and an unyielding dedication to the equitable legislation, enforcement and adherence to just laws. We need a revolution of commitment to the idealism of a nation for all and not a fiefdom for the few. We need a revolution of exceptional courage, to do the exceptional things required to have an exceptional nation. And we need a revolution of passion to once again fill our pens with the patriotic blood in our hearts, to commission the oaths that we will not allow any form of government to bring about the destructive end of our quest for a more perfect union. To that end, I conclude with this poem. I hope it begins the revolution in you, with a moment of introspection.
The Bread of New Beginnings
When ground is watered with the blood of rivals
And fertilized with potent rage,
Then plowed with the blade of sharp suspicion
And planted with odious deeds.
It will sprout the dual grain
Of racial fear and ethnic loathing,
And be reaped, with firm conviction,
To provide the divisive meal of scorn.
Then it will be ground, sifted, bleached and fortified
With ancient tribal notions,
And fermented by distortions
To make the sour dough of hate.
And as it bakes in familial heat and rises
To feed a hungry bias,
It will waft the savory scent
Of adulterated pride.
And that scent will tempt the senses
Of children breastfed by contempt,
And lure them to the table
Where they will dine on seasoned cants.
Thus, the damning diet continues.
One generation feeds another.
Each will pass along the recipe
For death and violation.
Because the appetite of vengeance
Does not fancy new cuisine.
It prefers the pickled virtue
Of acrimonious tradition.
It daily scoffs with no regard
For the ills of base ambition,
And drinks, with drunken cause,
The baleful ale of cruel plots.
Who has tired of these victuals?
Who wants more than bitter brew?
Who will scrape their plate of custom
And test their tongue on different flavors?
Who will write a recipe
For the bread of new beginnings?
Who will rinse their bloodstained glass
And rush to sample sweetened hope?
Who will churn the golden butter
Of undiscouraged peace?
Who will make the tasty stock
For equal recognition?
Who will baste the rarest roast
Of genuine compassion?
Who will serve the lavish platters
Of benevolence and love?
Who will host the lasting supper
Of fellowship and favor?
Who will set this promised table,
By a menu of their making?
Who will pour the virgin wine
And see that every glass is filled?
Who will feast with fated foes
And gladly toast the death of past?
Will you bake this wholesome bread?
Will you ladle out this soup?
Will you carve and slice and serve with relish
This tender meat of mercy?
Will you lay a rich buffet
With a universal theme?
Will you grant an invitation
To all of humankind?
This piece was intentionally written to have 1,776 words in observance of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, written on July 4, 1776, 249 years ago.