In Nantucket, there is an interesting conflict between churches after the Nantucket Unitarian Universalists (NUU) canceled its traditional celebration. In a letter from the church and the Rev. Erin Splaine of the Second Congregational Meeting House Society, residents were told the traditional reading of the Declaration of Independence would be canceled to better focus on the “on-going process within the congregation to better understand our own whiteness.”
Across the country, July 4th celebrations are being canceled, and protests are planned for the nation’s 250th anniversary. MS NOW anchor Ali Velshi declared this week, “I feel a deep unease about the celebrations to which I am invited to mark the 250th anniversary of our so-called democracy.” The comment mirrors a recent poll showing that 85% of Democrats describe the U.S. in negative terms, and only 10% said they view it positively.
For 25 years, the historic Nantucket Unitarian Meeting House has hosted a public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
The letter announcing the cancellation from Splaine and the NUU Nantucket church is full of the usual virtue-signaling jingoism that has become common on the left:
“Our cancelling the 4th of July celebration this year reflects … an on-going process within the congregation to better understand our own whiteness.
…For those of us who are white the experience of the Rights and Privileges conferred by the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the United States have, for centuries, been tragically, often violently, and unequally applied to fellow citizens who are not white.”
This type of pandering and posturing has become the norm today. In a time when the American flag is denounced as a divisive and “triggering” symbol, a refusal to celebrate our Independence is yet another way of proving one’s bona fides to the perpetually enraged.
Splaine and the church stressed that she would not “engage” with critics on social media because “Social media is not the place for important, tender conversations.”
For some of us who believe that the Declaration of Independence embodies natural rights that ultimately prevailed in a more perfect union, the letter is maddening.
As I discuss in Rage and the Republic, the continuation of slavery was recognized at the time as a fundamental betrayal of those values. However, we created a system that would ultimately reject slavery and then later segregation. It was indeed a stain on our history and a sin of our founders to continue slavery. Yet, despite those imperfections, we rallied behind the founding values that define us as a people.
Thomas Paine, who (like other founding figures) was vehemently against slavery, still celebrated the founding of a new nation and a new people: “We have it in our power to begin the world over again . . . The birth-day of a new world is at hand.”
John Adams represented Massachusetts, including Nantucket, at the Continental Congress and fought to end slavery, but still understood that they had created a country based on freedoms that would ultimately prevail for everyone. He wrote his wife Abigail to predict that Independence Day would be:
“celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”
Rather than Adams, Massachusetts now has figures like Rev. Splaine who focus not on the natural rights that bind us to those ongoing conflicts that divide us. This is a holiday that allows us to take one day of the year to celebrate our shared values. In an age of rage, it is a respite from the anger and hate that consumes so many in this country.
Yet, there remain some in Massachusetts who still understand what Adams was describing 250 years ago. Another church has stepped forward to take up the celebration. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church announced it would read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. St. Paul’s Rev. Max Wolf declared, “We may not be there yet but we felt it was important to gather together and try to live up to the promises our country has made. Those documents are aspirational.”
Amen, Reverend, Amen.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
I am a Person of Peach (PoP), thank you very much.
Albinophobes are celebrated with pride in parades.
And what of People of White (PoWs)?
Bah haha!!! Gotta love the Loony Tunes and their White Guilt! Their ancestors would slap them senseless if they came back and met up with this bunch! But hey – the Wokies have now gone Whacky! This is close to the scene where Desantis dropped off the OTM’s (Other Than Mexicans) at Martha’s Vineyard and the White Guilt crowd wanted them Off The Island Pronto, right? Haha. These fake pieces of Elitist Garbage always talk a game they want to shove on others but follow the path of the hypocrite! Enjoy your Shaker Syndrome July 4th you Nut Cases.
“. . . our own whiteness.”
The problem with crying “Nazis,” is that when they actually appear, nobody listens.
Defining an individual by his race, then meting out rewards or punishments based on that race — those are two key premises of Nazism.
The problem with crying “Nazis,” is that when they actually appear, nobody listens
The people crying Nazis are the Nazis themselves, like Graham Planter (sheesh, talk about toxic masculinity!). Maybe that’s the plan – to get nobody to listen.
As a non-white person myself, I find this self-flagellation to appease the DEI gods in grandiose virtue signaling fashion absurd.
Is our country perfect? Of course not. Teach all of history. The good, the bad and the ugly parts. Point out accomplishments and failures. The people involved.
Sure. The founders were white men.
However, anyone with a degree of common sense can read the Constitution today and know it applies to ALL people. It does not have to be spelled out every race, gender of which there are only two, sexual orientation, or even a furry be mentioned.
Are people seriously considering having protests against America’s 250th celebration?
You have summed it up perfectly.
Here are the ways Trump is shitting on American values:
Attempted coup.
Getting comedians he does not like take off the air.
Getting journalists he does not like fired.
Firing women and black flag officers and removing women and blacks from promotion lists.
Violating the spending clause in the Constitution.
Launching an illegal war.
Stoping and arresting people based on skin color.
Concentration camps.
All of which Turrley and MAGAs support.
Sally, do you just read headlines on propaganda? How else could you reach such absurd conclusions?
Liberal white women: the destroyers of civilizations.
“Erin! You got some Splainin to do!” Sorry I couldn’t resist! 😎that said, if I recall correctly that particular cult does not accept Jesus as their Savior. They will all answer to Him in due time.
The once great British Empire, then white and not diminished, ended slavery in many places. Whites in this country fought other whites to end slavery decades later. Slavery still exists throughout the world as it has always existed, but not in white countries (though it could return as whites are now self-destructing). Signaling out America for it is just political nonsense (as if virtually everything claimed by the left).
Why are we speaking to whiteness. The declaration was intended to emancipate us from England. We wrote down the reasons why and listed them. Among the natural rights listed was surely autonomy but we are addressing political autonomy which was a precondition to address domestic issues that were problematic such as slavery. So let’s get our dates straight. The fourth of July is our independence from England. It’s not about our whiteness. If you wish to discuss this issue then fine, review Dred Scott and Brown, 13 th and 14th amendments. What we are celebrating is our ability to say no to tyranny, and this is not to support the Democratic party, but in the interest of tolerance, we can and should include them the celebration. they do, after all, represent autonomy. Credit where it’s due.