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New York Times
14-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Two Postscripts on a Column
'Ain't I a woman?' Well, no, I'm not. Yet ever since I first read that refrain in Sojourner Truth's famous speech to the 1851 Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, I've thought of it as belonging to the canon of great American rhetoric — right up there with Abraham Lincoln's 'With malice toward none' and Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I have a dream.' It's for that reason that I cited the line in my April 8 column as an example of the kind of American spirit I treasure — what I called 'the shared conviction that strong and weak are united in a common democratic creed.' The problem — as I learned after the column was published — is that Truth may never have said it. We may never know for sure. A near-contemporaneous transcript of the speech, published in June 1851 in the Anti-Slavery Bugle newspaper, does not contain the famous phrase. But it did appear (as 'And ar'n't I a woman?') 12 years later, in a very different version of the speech published by the feminist abolitionist Frances Dana Barker Gage, who had presided over the convention. Among the reasons not to believe Gage's account: Her version of Truth's speech is rendered in a Southern dialect. But Truth was born in upstate New York as a slave to a Dutch-speaking family, and spoke English with a Dutch accent. Whatever the case, both versions of the speech are powerful and ring true, morally speaking, and Truth's place in the pantheon of American heroes remains secure. There are also less-heralded heroes in the American story, including two who came to my attention this week almost by accident. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
08-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The Destruction of the American Ideal
Even by the ugly standards of this administration, the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia stands out. A Salvadoran migrant and metal worker in Maryland with no criminal record other than traffic violations and illegal entry into the country, he was arrested by immigration authorities in March and deported to one of the notorious prisons of his homeland, in contravention of a U.S. immigration judge's order. The government acknowledged the 'administrative error' — an Orwellian euphemism for a Kafkaesque nightmare — but petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal judge's order requiring his return on Monday. The same day, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the lower court's order so it can have time to consider the case. Abrego Garcia was an unimportant person when he was deported — except, of course, to his wife and son and two stepchildren. He is the subject of an accusation that he belonged to the MS-13 gang — but there is only flimsy evidence and no proof. The entire edifice of American justice is built on the conviction that there is no guilt without proof beyond reasonable doubt — and that there is no unimportant person, at least not in the eyes of the law. I've been thinking about this case as an emblem of everything that makes Donald Trump's presidency so vile and destructive, even when I've bent over backward to give him the benefit of the doubt, and even when I've agreed with him on this or that point of policy. I have, to borrow a line from Peggy Noonan, a 'certain idea of America.' He ain't it. What is that 'certain idea'? It has to do with a type of democratic nobility, something most of us can recognize the moment we see it. It's Sojourner Truth asking the suffragists at the 1851 Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 'Ain't I a woman?' It's Lou Gehrig, stricken with A.L.S. in his thirties, calling himself 'the luckiest man on the face of the earth.' It's Gail Halvorsen, the candy bomber of the Berlin Airlift, parachuting chocolates and gum to the hungry children of the besieged city. It's John McCain refusing an offer to be released before other American P.O.W.s in North Vietnamese captivity — and, 40 years later, publicly rebuking a supporter for calling Barack Obama, his opponent in the 2008 presidential race, 'an Arab.' Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
