July Fourth event to feature Frederick Douglass speech

■ Alternative celebration will set to music famed anti-slavery proclamation
By Sean Maher_______________________
STAFF WRITER
Oakland musicians and poets will offer an al­ternative celebration of Independence Day this week with a staged version of Frederick Doug­lass' famed 1852 speech decrying the hypocrisy of slavery in a supposedly free country.
Poetry and jazz ensemble UpSurge will per­form at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music on Thursday, with Michael Lange and James Brooks, who will each perform excerpts of the speech.
"Many activists are very much aware of that speech and (Douglass)," said Angela Wellman, founder of the conservatory, "and as African-American activists, it's on the clock every year."
Wellman said that a similar performance last year was "an overwhelming success," at­tracting an audience that filled the building, so the conservatory decided to make it an annual event.
She said the speech remains relevant today, citing racial issues surrounding Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign and a host of questions raised by his candidacy.
"I felt like it was really powerful, as we are in the 21st century working as a people to bring our people together in institutions where we can celebrate ourselves and our culture and who we are, and not have to answer these types of questions anymore," Wellman said.
Douglass' 1852 speech expressed passion­ate anger toward the hypocrisy of celebrating independence in a country where slavery was condoned.
"What to the American slave is your Fourth of July?" 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 shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; 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."
Raymond Nat Turner, founder of UpSurge, promised an exciting and thought-provoking performance.
"Last year, Michael (Lange) was reading some excerpts, and at one point I was trans­ported to that actual time because Michael was feeling it, like a preacher sometimes gets the spirit, the holy ghost, and he took it there and I felt myself transported almost to the point where I forgot what I was supposed to be do­ing," Turner said.
"It definitely got intense. You could sense palpably the energy of the audience in the room riding on every word," he said. "You could feel the audience abandon their daily cares and concerns, sense a combination of seriousness and solemnity together with the excitement.
Last year's show ran about 75 minutes, Turner said.
Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. The show will start at 8 p.m. Thursday at the conservatory, 1616 Franklin. Street in Oakland. For details, call 510-836-4649 or visit www.opcmusic.org.