On July 4, 1991, The LA Times (in the "Open Page" section) published the following open letter by Frank Sinatra. May this put all of you Sinatra fans and friends in America in the right spirit - happy holiday to all of you.
Bernhard.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
July 4, 1991
(“Open page” section)
"We are created equal! No one of us is better than any of us!"
That's the headline proclaimed in 1776 and inscribed across centuries in the
truth of the ages. Those inspired words from the Declaration of
Independence mock bigotry and anti-Semitism. Then why do I still hear
race- and color-haters spewing their poisons? Why do I still flinch at
innuendoes of venom and inequality? Why do innocent children still grow
up to be despised? Why do haters' jokes still get big laughs when passed
in whispers from scum to scum? You know the ones I mean -- the "Some of
my best friends are Jewish..." crowd.
As for the others, those cross-burning bigots to whom mental slavery is
alive and well, I don't envy their trials in the next world, where their
thoughts and words and actions will be judged by a jury of One. Why do
so many among us continue in words and deeds to ignore, insult and
challenge the unforgettable words of Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the
Declaration of Independence's promise to every man, woman and child --
the self-evident truth that all men are created equal?
That's what the Fourth of July is all about. Not firecrackers. Not
getting smashed on the patio sipping toasts to our forefathers. Not
picnics and parades or freeways empty because America has the day off.
Equality is what our Independence Day is about. Not the flag-wavers who
wave it one day a year, but all who carry its message with them wherever
they go, who believe in it, who live it enough to die for it -- as so
many have.
OK, I'm a saloon singer, by self-definition. Even my mirror would never
accuse me of inventing wisdom. But I do claim enough street smarts to
know that hatred is a disease - a disease of the body of freedom, eating
its way from the inside out, infecting all who come in contact with it,
killing dreams and hopes millions of innocents with words, as surely as
if they were bullets.
Who in the name of God are there people anyway, the ones who elevate
themselves above others? America is an immigrant country. Maybe not you
or me, but those whose love made our lives possible, or their parents or
grandparents. America was founded by these people, who were fed up with
other countries. Those weren't tourists on the Mayflower -- they were
your families and mine, following dreams that turned out to be possible
dreams. Leaving all they owned, they sailed to America to start over and
to forge a new nation of freedom and liberty -- a new nation where they
would no longer be second-class citizens but first-class Americans.
Even now, with all our problems, America is still a dream of oppressed
people the world over. Take a minute. Consider what we are doing to each
other as we rob friends and strangers of dignity as well as equality.
Give a few minutes of fairness to the house we live in, and to all who
share it with us from sea to shining sea. For if we don't come to grips
with this killer disease of hatred, of bigotry and racism and
anti-Semitism, pretty soon we will destroy from within this blessed
country.
And what better time than today to examine the conscience of America? As
we celebrate our own beginnings, let us offer our thanksgiving to the
God who arranged for each of us to live here among His purple mountain
majesties, His amber waves of grain. Don't just lip-sync the words to
the song. Think them, live them. "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of
liberty." And when the music fades, think of the guts of Rosa Parks, who
by a single act in a single moment changed America as much as anyone who
ever lived.
I'm no angel. I've had my moments. I've done a few things in my life of
which I'm not too proud, but I have never unloved a human being because
of race, creed, or color. And if you think this is a case of he who doth
protest too much, you're wrong. I would live any other way; the Man
Upstairs has been much too good to me.
Happy Fourth of July. May today be a day of love for all Americans. May
this year's celebration be the day that changes the world forever. May
Independence Day, 1991, truly be a glorious holiday as every American
lives the self-evident truth that all people are created equal. God shed
His grace on thee -- on each of thee -- in His self-evident love for all
of us."
-- Frank Sinatra