On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall. It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."
Within the now-famous address is what historian Philip S. Foner has called "probably the most moving passage in all of Douglass' speeches."
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, 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 national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, 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. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Yep. I hear you, Mr. Douglass. What does Labor Day mean to me? This will be short, but I hope will call for some self-reflection. My critique of unions is very straight-forward. Unions are not meant to protect me and mine. Although there are many unions that have people of color among their members, by and large, unions remain segregated by race and gender. I've even had a union organizer admit this to me. It isn't as though I didn't have to believe my lying eyes. In my city, you will find that when you look at the trade unions, segregation. Young African Americans AND women of all stripes, I might add have been effectively frozen out of union jobs. So, I'm critical of unions since in the trades, training goes through the unions. Unions control who is hired on the job. Unions rely on the old boys network to form their ranks. This I can not celebrate.
When I see wholesale celebration of unions without the footnote that unions have been historically and remain presently one more roadblock to people of color's full economic equality in this society, I need to make sure this isn't lost. So what does Labor Day mean to me: One last bastion of white middle class ascendency that progressives and liberals refuse to challenge on their racial exclusivity convincing themselves that protections for some is a good enough advancement than the protection of all. To put it bluntly, a 40 hour work week or paid vacation means very little to those who are failed by our schools and shut out of employment. Ignoring this is one of the huge vulnerabilities for unions. Taking this critique as an attack, as many union members do when people of color picket and agitate to be included in the ranks of the trades, unquestionably undermines broad support for unions and the futhering of their goals.