WASHINGTON - As flags fly in special commemoration and fireworks boom in the streets this week, many people across the nation – including African American newspaper publishers – will not only reflect on the freedoms that have been gained since the July 4, 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, but also on the promises that are yet unfulfilled.

“We’ve always been a day late and a dollar short in terms of how we relate to how this country has treated us,” says Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of the Washington Informer, reflecting on a question posed by the NNPA News Service.

“It’s a good family time, but we really haven’t – I don’t think necessarily bought into the celebration.”

Abolitionist newspaper editor Frederick Douglass faced a similar dilemma on July 4, 1852, as a speaker in Rochester, N.Y.

“Pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?”

In the speech, known as “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” the editor/publisher of the North Star answered himself:

 “But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.”

Last week, 156 years since the Douglass speech, African American newspaper publishers, editors and journalists who gathered in Louisville, Ky., for the annual summer conference of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, grappled with later stages of this dilemma in response to a question from the NNPA News Service last week, “What to the Black Press is the Fourth of July?”

Most agreed that although ‘Black’ America has come a long way – as evidenced by the presidential candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama - the job of the Black Press of America on this Independence Day is to escalate the plea for justice.

“It’s a time when we are very real with ourselves in understanding the freedom that America allows us to enjoy when compared to other countries,” says Sonny Messiah Jiles, publisher of the Houston Defender.

“But, it’s also a time to grasp the realities of discrimination, whether it’s in the housing discrimination, predatory lending and the list goes on and on.”

Irv Randolph, managing editor of the Philadelphia Tribune, agrees, saying the holiday is like a revival for the Black Press.

“For us, it’s a reminder of a continuing quest for all of our readership and for people to get the American dream and full equality in our society,” Randolph says.

Striving toward that goal is a daily mission for the Black Press of America. From coast to coast, the more than 200 NNPA members - mostly weekly publications – write stories that point out injustices and inequalities that are still pervasive even 181 years after

Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm founded Freedom’s Journal, the first Black newspaper, in 1827.

“Our communities are on fire,” says Bankole Thompson, senior editor and editorial page editor of the Michigan Chronicle.

“What we need to do is increase upon that legacy of Freedom’s Journal, increase upon the Legacy of pioneering black journalists who did what they had to do to pave the way for us as black journalists to be able to do what we do.”

NNPA grew out of the National Negro Publishers Association in 1940, just prior to the start of World War II. Throughout the war, the famous “Double V” campaign – victory against fascism abroad, victory against racism and Jim Crow at home – raged in black newspapers across the country. Some see history repeating itself with the current war in Iraq while African-Americans face double unemployment due to discrimination here at home.

“It is the day that still lacks the promise that is yet to be fulfilled for all of America’s citizens,” says Rod Doss, editor/publisher, New Pittsburgh Courier.

Yet, there must be some acknowledgment of the progress that has been made.

“It’s sort of a mixed celebration,” says Jake Oliver, publisher of the Baltimore-based Afro-American Newspaper.

“The 4th of July means for me as an American, the celebration of independence. But as an African-American it sort of reminds us of the levels of inequality.”

Doris Ellis, publisher of the Houston Sun, agrees.

“We have an ambivalence about that freedom because we have not seen the 4th of July as our day of recognizing our freedom.”

Typically on Independence Day, Americans fly flags, shoot fire works, have cookouts, parades and have fun with friends and family. Though many African-Americans also join in the celebration, it’s more about the fun, says Los Angeles Sentinel Publisher Danny Bakewell.

“It’s really just a day off from work for most of our staff. It is supposed to be representative of all the freedom in America. However, on the 4th of July, black folk weren’t free. So, for us, it’s just a day off from work and a day to have barbecue and enjoy family and friends.”

This is not unpatriotic, just realistic says Gordon Jackson, managing editor of the Dallas Examiner.

“We look at the overall race relations situations in America and we see that there are still issues where African-Americans are not created equal,” Jackson says.

“And what we have seen in the presidential campaign with Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright and all of that…That kind of revealed that gap of understanding between white America and the nuances of the culture within black America.”

So, many African-Americans just grin and bear it.

“I think to the Black Press and to black people, the Fourth of July is a formality,” says Dwight Castleberry, entertainment editor with the Times Weekly News. “We observe it because it’s a part of American culture and we live in America.”

Given the current economic atmosphere, this July 4th is an opportunity, says Dr. Karanja A. Ajanaku, executive editor of the Tri-State Defender in Memphis.

“It’s an opportunity in a sense to be able to bridge the gap between the idea of America and what most people think of it,” he says. “We’ve got to understand the idea of the American Republic and how it’s related to wealth generation.”

Ajanaku says he plans to write editorials to teach “the relationship between the African-American community and the idea of the American Republic.”

The dilemma is not easy, says J. Dowin Hollinsworth, director of city operations for the Call & Post of Columbus, Ohio.

“We have not had a fair shake,” Hollinsworth says. “To examine that with a balanced perspective is a difficult thing…To examine that and to take advantage of the opportunities to celebrate, but to also tell the many stories that represent our true experience in America is not only the opportunity of the Black Press, but really is the job of the Black Press.”

Meanwhile, while joining in the festivities in diverse ways this week, black people will quietly remember that there are other days more hallowed for African-Americans.

“When you obviously look at Martin Luther King’s birthday,” says Chris B. Bennett, co-publisher and editor of the Seattle Medium Newspaper group, “In the overall context of things, I think there are more important dates and times in American history as it relates to African-Americans and the Black Press.”

(Hazel Trice Edney is Editor-in-Chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.)