10 toes down on the side of truth and love

How do we love a country that doesn’t love us back?

That was the question that consumed me when a much smarter colleague reminded me of Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

In that speech, given in Rochester, N.Y., some 172 years ago, the fiery reformer refused to fall in line with patriotic celebration and instead chose to expose the hypocrisy of reveling in freedom while millions remained enslaved.

As we approach this Presidents Day, that same sense of hypocrisy hits harder than ever. In these bleak times, with a disgraceful occupant in the Oval Office who has nothing but contempt for democracy, are we really expected to celebrate this nation or its leaders?

Sure, President Donald Trump is filled with hate, but he isn’t the only one who’s failing us. Congress is so spineless that it let Elon Musk and his band of racist tech-bros store all our Social Security information on their hard drives without lifting a finger. The U.S. Supreme Court is so ethically compromised that the only way it might act is if someone offers to buy the justices a motor home or pay one of their relatives’ college tuition. Even at the local level, leaders like Mayor Cherelle L. Parker are so tied to the Democratic machine that they can’t resist yet another nepo hire.

Oh, to be a Friend of Cherelle in Philly.

Hypocrisy and contradiction seep into every part of our lives like a paralyzing poison, infiltrating even moments that should be filled with joy.

We cheer when the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs, while we are fed absurd commercials that tell us to “stop hating each other.” All as the very source of that hatred sits in a luxury suite paid for by taxpayers — most of whom could never afford a ticket.

We clear the Super Bowl field of the “controversial" message “End Racism” and substitute it with a hollow directive to “Choose Love,” while doing nothing to confront the reality that people who need love the most are systematically undermined.

We listen to our mayor shout, “One Philly, A United City,” but how whole are we when hundreds of people in our communities are afraid to go to work or school or church while being targeted by despotic mass deportations?

“Congratulations Philadelphia Eagles, but nothing to celebrate while our community is mistreated,” Juan Carlos Romero Huerta, the former president of the Association of Mexican Business Owners of Philadelphia, posted in Spanish on Facebook after the game.

It’s been one big lovefest in the City of Brotherly Love between Sunday’s Super Bowl win and the Valentine’s Day victory parade. It’s a perfect storm of joy. In the midst of the fervor, my timelines have been filled with story after story of revelry on city streets, in our neighborhood bars, on the doors and windows of homes in every city zip code. I’ve seen no fewer than three videos of couples getting engaged after the Eagles’ victory. I’m all for love and light — especially as intentional acts of resistance — but it’s hard to enjoy the party when it feels like it’s last call for democracy.

Celebrations can mask a lot, and while the city pulses with joy, that same energy doesn’t reflect the deeper truth of what’s happening.

And so I return to the question: How do we love a country, and even a city, that doesn’t always love us back?

I have pieces of an answer, but only pieces.

You don’t do it with blind loyalty or anticipatory obedience. You don’t accept — never accept — a sanitized version of our past or present. Don’t get comfortable with the gaslighting, the propaganda, the constant lies.

You challenge national narratives and myths, exposing at every turn the hypocrisy of ideals like “liberty and justice for all.” Whose definition of liberty and justice? And who gets to be included in all?

And you do this every single day, online and in person — with friends, loved ones, and a community that, as Huerta told me when we spoke this week, will never stop pushing until we are all valued and protected.

You confront the dishonorable as military families did during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to a U.S. base in Germany, protesting his role in undoing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives under the Trump administration. (Since his confirmation, Hegseth has banned Black History Month celebrations, restricted books on immigration and psychology in military schools, and barred transgender service members.)

You stand up to bullies as Jewish and Quaker groups have done in Philly, suing to block U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on places of worship.

You vow to push against Felon 47’s edicts and those of his enablers.

You claim every inch of your space, just like Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar did during his powerful Super Bowl halftime performance — a statement of empowerment lost only on those too committed to ignoring our national distress, too committed to dismissing it all because they “don’t do rap.”

And you hold tight to the words and spirit of Douglass who, in that very speech in 1852, concluded that “notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country …” Because just as there are forces working hard to hold our nation back, there are forces working to push it forward.

Believe that. Work toward that, and stand 10 toes down on the side of truth and love.