Whether it is an individual or an entire community of people, everyone encounters some level of setbacks. But it is how one responds to problems that dictates whether they end up as victims or victorious. One cannot deny the horrendous life that Frederick Douglas was born into. He was destined for a life of miserable slavery, or so his cruel masters thought. His mother had been forced upon by her owner and Frederick was born during the year 1818 in Talbot County Maryland. Frederick Douglas who was later to decide for himself to not be a victim of his circumstances, never allowed the circumstances to snuff out his goal of obtaining his freedom.
Young Frederick Douglas was subjected to a series of often repeated lies. One of the favorites the southern Christian democrats used to tell their black slaves was that black people were cursed by God to be in bondage. Douglas would often ponder that statement, wondering how a loving God would do such a thing to the entirety of a race of people. Though that and other statements bother Douglas, he remained open to the possibility that he was being lied to. He figured that if what they were telling him was true, then they would have allowed him to read it for himself in the Bible.
Frederick Douglas had a knack for noticing the blatant and cruel hypocrisy often displayed by his masters and the democrats in general. For example, it was often noted that men should always be gentlemen toward ladies and not beat them. After all, he was taught to always show the utmost respect for any white woman he encountered. But one day after a Sunday church service one of the black women slaves was whipped unmercifully until the bones in her back were exposed. Her beating was touted as a means of frightening other slaves into not even thinking about attempting to escape. Such cruelty enraged Frederick Douglas and only served to strengthen his resolve to free himself from the cruel drudgery of such existence.
Even as a young lad of servitude in Baltimore, Frederick was always attracted to knowledge and finding better ways to conduct his chores. For a season, he was blessed to obtain reading lessons from the wife of the master who brought Frederick there to serve at her beck and call and on the city ship yards as well. But after the husband found out and sternly reprimanded his wife for daring to teach Frederick to read she not only stopped teaching, but became increasingly cruel to him as well. But rather than become bitter and focus on the obvious setback, young Frederick turned his thoughts toward finding other ways to quench his thirst for knowledge.
One remarkable story I will always treasure is how during the infrequent times he was allowed to spend time playing out of doors with some of the neighborhood children, Frederick would trick his white playmates into helping him completely learn the alphabet. He would suggest word games and then play stupid. The white children were all to willing to show their superior knowledge by telling him the proper spelling and pronunciation of words. Frederick Douglas was always willing to try and better himself intellectually and spiritually as well, because he always knew that he would eventually obtain his rightful position as a free American.
Of course, after three tries, Frederick Douglas secured his freedom. But just being free was not enough for him. After making his permanent escape in 1838, he was married and embarked on a quest to find his place in American society and with God. To his great surprise he quickly learned that the word of God is for all people and thus accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior. It was not long after that before Mr. Douglas researched the marvelous words of the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and as many of the Federalist papers he could get his hands on. To his amazement he discovered that as with the hallowed word of God, the great documents of this republic were formed for all Americans.
However, America was not living up to her lofty goals of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all of “We the People.” But that did not diminish Douglas’s admiration for the nation. He operated successful businesses including a news paper called the North Star, Frederick Douglas also became arguably the greatest orator of the 19th century, in his mission as an abolitionist to precure freedom for those who remained under the bootheel of slavery. His quest for personal excellence did not sit well with many of Douglas’s fellow abolitionists who thought he spoke to well for a “black man.” They wanted blacks to free, but not too bright, or self sufficient, kind of like democrats today. President Lincoln called him friend and was greatly influenced by Mr. Douglas in the effort to end the inhumanity of slavery.
Douglas followed the Biblical encouragement to use his God given gifts to the best of his ability and that through excellence, those well applied gifts would make room for him far above the level of those who only saw him as a lowly nigger worthy of nothing good. It would behoove black Americans today to escape from the bottom feeder mentality of bitterness and hatred toward America, if it is a better life they are in search of. Like Frederick Douglas black Americans must stop the self fulfilment of the desire of Democrats in general to see Black Americans as needy beggars at the table of their dominators, or democrat party masters and government school indoctrinators. The horrific conditions experienced throughout many of the urban black ghettos throughout America were first fueled by decades of government school indoctrination against higher intellectual development and critical thinking. Then the stabilizing family was rendered unstable as black females in droves chose government welfare payments over the presence of a strong breadwinner father figure. Today, the demise of the black American community is legendary.
Unfortunately, the problems faced by many Black Americans today are self fulfilled via negative proclamations over their own lives , the republic and everybody who is no longer bitter about America’s past democrat slave culture. Unless Black Americans get over the past, they will continue their current self induced destruction of themselves and future generations, much to the pleasure of their democrat party plantation masters and elites like Bill Gates, who has been accused of putting sterilization drugs in vaccines for Africans. I am pleased to announce both Edwards Notebook commentary and The Ron Edwards Experience talk show are now part of the talkamericaradio.us terrestrial radio and internet broadcasting network. Fridays at 4:00 PM EST, 1:00 PM PT it’s The Ron Edwards Experience on KCKQ AM 1180 Reno, Nevada, www.shrmedia.co and www.americamatters.us and weeknights at 9:00 PM EST on www.freedominamericaradio.com
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