For the 4th of July weekend, On Being’s Krista Tippett replayed a 2003 interview with author and philosopher Jacob Needleman. They discussed his book, The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders. The program was titled, The Inward Work of Democracy. From the transcript:
Mr. Jacob Needleman: What’s interesting about [Frederick] Douglass, why he should be an icon for all Americans, is that he saw, more clearly than any of us could, the evils of slavery since he was a slave, and he didn’t hate America. He loved America and he hated what America was doing with the slavery. Nowadays, people who see what’s wrong with America wind up hating America, and people who are loving America, don’t want to see what’s wrong with America. In my book, I’m trying to say that America is — the ideals of America can be re-mythologized, can be expanded and deepened in such a way to include both our great triumphs and the hope we brought the world, and also the terrible crimes we’ve done. So let’s all have Douglass in our educational system as well as Jefferson.
Here’s wishing all of us in the U.S. a happy, and reflective, 4th of July holiday.