Whose Fourth of July?: Black Patriotism and Racial Inequality in America

Recently, I was asked to deliver a speech at the National Conservatism Conference, which was held in Orlando, Florida. It was high-profile affair with many prominent conservative intellectuals, media figures, and politicians speaking and in attendance. And I don’t mind saying I had a prime speaking slot! I used the speech to develop some ideas I’ve aired here on TGS, and I think many of you will be gratified by the reaction they get from the crowd. But make no mistake: I’m not just telling them what they want to hear.

In the speech, I try to make the case for black patriotism, the forthright embrace of American nationalism by black people. I argue that, ultimately, most black people want the same things as most other Americans: safety, a shot at improvement, a fair and just government, and personal freedom. Black people share a common culture with the rest of the country—emphasizing racial difference obscures that essential fact. I also argue that conservatives need to go beyond making generic, color-blind claims about America and leaving it at that. Racial inequality is real, and there do need to be initiatives put it place to remedy it. I then go on to outline some “unspeakable truths” about race pertaining to four topics: racial disparity, the racialization of police violence, the threat of white backlash, and American equality. I end by engaging with Frederick Douglass, who gave a famous address about slavery and the Fourth of July. The Fourth is, indeed, “ours”—all of ours.

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0:00 “Tolstoy is mine. Dickens is mine. Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein are mine”

4:13 “Our Americanness is much more important than our blackness”

7:39 Conservatives cannot go back to "business as usual" on race

9:22 A conservative prescription for persistent racial inequality

11:38 The roots of racial disparity

17:17 Putting police killings of black Americans into perspective

23:58 From white guilt to white backlash

28:10 The “lie” that the American Dream doesn’t apply to blacks

34:47 Black people “must seize equal status”

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