Frederick Douglas' speech, and the way he treats upon delicate, especially to today's ears, subjects, have got to be the precursor to current stand up comics. Here he is, a fugitive slave, addressing the President of the white men who condone his misery, cracking subtle jokes at the irony of circumstance. 'Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776.' Hell, it's great for him to agree, but he's seventy-six years too late, and black to boot. Black meaning that no one would bother listening to him; black meaning that had he been alive and of fighting age seventy-six years previous, he should still have been a slave, ergo would have had to take the part of whomever owned him, be his master Torrie or Rebel. Douglas later plays up his ignorance, having taken his audience through the causes of the Revolution, then saying that they should instruct him in regard to those causes. Ah, but they have instructed the 'crushed and bleeding slave'. And I bet they instructed him quite well. Imagine an energetic Will Smith, charming, funny, blatantly pointing out that to a slave, 4 July does but mock exactly what it celebrates so voraciously. Perhaps it's still too soon to be giggling at that.
