Hasan Kwame Jeffries; “Why the Constitution Won’t Save Us from Ourselves”
Photo via: USmint.gov/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
“We the People,” is a broad statement known as the first written words in the Preamble of the Constitution, but what do those words stand for? More importantly, who are those words standing for? The Fourteenth Amendment in this living document states that no State should “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
In the annual Constitution Day Lecture, Hasan Kwame Jeffries explained he believes it is necessary to look at the Constitutional Document with original intent, as it could help with learning the hard history, in addition to learning the truth. Suddenly, this living document reads differently. American democracy is becoming strained under internal pressures, as the rejection of our traditional politics has generated it. The norms in which the Constitution was originally written give little value to multi-racial democracy. The lecture explores why the Constitution will not save American democracy from threats within it.
Hasan Kwame Jeffries is a knowledgeable professor at The Ohio State University, teaching courses on Civil Rights and the Black Power Movement, and serves on the Board of Directors for the ACLU of Ohio. Jeffries is also the author of “Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt,” which tells the story of the African American freedom movement in Lowndes County, Alabama. Inside and outside the classroom, Jeffries is known to preach the importance of having an open mind in terms of politics and showing the necessity of truth.
To begin his lecture, Jeffries introduced his personal life. Jeffries is raising his three young daughters surrounded by the hard history that America was born out of. After teaching his daughter about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., he noticed how much his (four-year-old at the time) had retained from his truthful teachings about King’s protests, marches and teachings. His four-year-old daughter concluded that Jeffries had not thought of yet. She told her father “I think he was trying to tell us that America is damaged.” To Jeffries, it astounded him that a child could interpret the form of truth into a perspective of what America was built off of, and continues to build off of today, an unequal system.
Looking at the Constitution in the history often taught in school, some may believe James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” to be a political genius. Madison studied his library using the philosophers from his past, creating the ideologies known today in the Constitution. But looking into the truth, some would see the facts of hard history ,the point of origin to where it makes people uncomfortable to learn. The hard history brought by Madison as Jeffries spoke, was the fact that the Constitution was written by an enslaver, who contemplated what it meant to be free. The hard history of our Constitution is that it gave power to the wealthy, white enslavers, and protected their economic interests. The issue Jeffries holds with the Constitution is based upon these facts.
“You cannot be pro-freedom if you are pro-slavery, it was designed to suppress insurrection,” he states. Within this, Jeffries argues, “How much of this document is pro-democracy?” If the intent of “We the People” was to include all people, and the universal language was to represent liberty and equality for all, who were the framers speaking to? His answer was, “They were clear about which people they were talking about. Rich White men with property. Suddenly, we have to read the Constitution differently.”
The power of teaching truth gives room for internal perspective, allowing others to understand and even teach others. Jeffries stated if this document was true in its vague words, “America is damaged today because of practically the same issues that have not been fixed,” and further questions, “Why has this damage persisted?” To answer, Jeffries stated “The framers did not trust the “people, they trusted themselves, and wanted to keep power out of the hands of the people–hence the electoral college.” Jeffries feels the document is “a by-product of the interweaving of two things fundamental to [American] society–capitalism and racism. [Which persists today and] has been here since the very beginning.”
In the context of our American society today, Jeffries claims the “Universal language might save us.” Though he continued, “We are a threat to democracy at this moment, we are making this decision, if democracy falls, it is because we elected a person and party who views democracy, not as something to be protected, but as something that is the problem.” Further, he stated, “Our rights are under assault; we saw this coming.”
Following his statement, Jeffries spoke of the Fourteenth Amendment, declaring, “Everyone should be subject to the law, that is how democracy exists.” He followed his statement with the example of the Supreme Court ruling allowing immunity for whoever occupies office. Discussing this issue, Jeffries said, “It is becoming harder and harder to vote, but it was supposed to help our future. Making it difficult for a handful of people to vote, you can win the others. We should be making it easier, not more difficult to vote.”
Subsequently, Jeffries is grateful for the use of Universal language. Although when it was written, it did not address women, Black, or Indigenous people, it is universal in terms of how our society has adapted it today. Jeffries exclaimed, “No takebacks!” As the Constitution has expanded over the years, there is proof it has changed and grown, “but it takes the power of the people voting in overwhelming numbers against people who believe the Constitution is the problem.”
When asked a question about how to reform our America today in terms of following the Constitution as a document, Jefferies asks if the origin is redeemable at this point. Given the document's origin, it is known to be written abstractly, to remain flexible. As of today, people believe it is hard to amend a document that can be proven untrue.
“It has such staying power because [we believe] it is hard to amend, [though] it is not, but there hasn't been an amendment [in 32 years],” Jeffries said. “[This] creates a challenge, if we continue the originalism and ask what those words mean to us, we can expand the understanding of people, relationships, [and] we need laws that reflect that–we can use it, but not as it has been written. We have to apply it to what we are doing. Some people are still attached to the status quo in this democracy.”
A listener asked how we could implement “hard history” teaching in schools as states dance around limitations put in place by Federal Institutions. Jeffries states, “We don't have a choice but to, it is the truthful history of the past. We tend to embrace a false sense of historic amnesia [by] pretending it didn't happen using rationalization and making stuff up.”
Furthering this point, Jeffries said “We don't have a choice but to teach it and teach it accurately [and] in this environment, very carefully. There is an assault on education, and we have to rationalize not changing anything, by saying that the demands are real and we've been indoctrinated.” In terms of future education, it is important to “challenge students with our history and in the end make a decision; With an open mind.” Jeffries argued that maintaining an open perspective is becoming increasingly important due to the polarization in our society today.
To conclude, Jeffries firmly stated, “You have work to do in every election. The constitution is on the ballot, rule of law is on the ballot, this won't be the last election, but maybe the last meaningful election.” American citizens have a right and duty to vote. Bringing the power back to the people, hearing the voices, listening to one another, and working towards a better future. American democracy can become what people make of it. Vote for the future.