Trump v. Barbara · ¶125

After the Civil War, Fredrick Douglass frequently reflected on the events of the time through the lens of biblical stories. In one speech, Douglass described how God leveled Sodom and Gomorrah on account of sin, and how, in the aftermath, Abraham stood atop a nearby mountain to survey what remained. “[T]he orator used the image of Abraham looking down upon the destroyed landscape to demand that Americans look down upon their own recent self-destruction, and all but unjustified survival, and remember.” Douglass declared that his own aim was to “‘show that nations should have memories.’”

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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