Symbols and essence

The divide between those who worship the essence of faith and those who worship its symbols is eternal. The prophet Amos, in the 8th century BC, rebuked Israel for mistaking its sacred feasts and assemblies, its offerings and songs for the essence of its faith. Instead he insisted its essence was justice and righteousness.

The essence of this country was based on the most radical ideas generated by the Western Enlightenment: that all men are created equal, and that government must assure liberty and justice for all. Various ruses have been employed to ignore the historical reality that the country’s institutions and cultural forms were also based on various ideologies of white supremacy.

African Americans have borne the greatest burden in adjusting the disparate traditions, while whites play the greatest role in sustaining them. President Trump curiously praised Frederick Douglass, the black abolitionist, as “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.” I wonder what he’d think if he read Douglass’ 1852 speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.”

In part, he said: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him … 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 shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, … 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.”

Douglass knew the difference between symbols and essence. Do we? DAVID SIXBEY

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