WCPT 820 Interview: Michelle Duster

Richard Chew is joined by Michelle Duster, author, educator, historian, and Chicagoan known for her work to preserve the legacy of her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells.

Duster talked about the Fourth of July, quoting parts of Frederick Douglass's 1852 speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Speaking to a few hundred abolitionists in Rochester, New York, Douglass said: 

"To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, 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."

Duster and Chew also touched on the ongoing struggle for equality, the need for reparations, and the impact of current political decisions on vulnerable populations. Duster emphasized the importance of understanding history and the role of government in supporting the least among us, criticizing the misinformation and propaganda that influence voting patterns.

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