In Rochester, N.Y., the hometown of Frederick Douglass, the famous orator and writer gave an address at a July 5 event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Black abolitionist, born into slavery, delivered a message far more critical than the usual holiday speeches filled with patriotic bromides. The title: “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.”

“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” Douglass asked. “I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

Now, 168 years later to the day, much has changed in the civil rights arena … but not enough. The Black Lives Matter protests that have swept the country, even to Hawaii, and the horrific killings at their core, have shown that although Americans are created equal, they aren’t all treated that way.

For all their explosive conflict, the demonstrations do signify at least an awakening, and the realization that only a concerted effort can overcome the twin crises: protests against racism and a raging public-health catastrophe.

That “concerted effort” part has never come easily to Americans. In the tension between the collective and the culture of rugged individualist, it’s the individualism that so often wins.

The unrest over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has coincided with the most crippling disaster of modern memory, the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than a half-million around the world, one-quarter of them Americans.

Perhaps the upheaval of lockdowns and job loss has been the force driving people to join in, rather than look away. It’s been harder to be distracted by routines, when those routines have been shattered.

To ward off COVID-19 infections, governments have shuttered businesses and put an end to most travel. Few states have dealt with economic repercussions of that as has Hawaii, where employers are hanging on for Aug. 1, when the reboot of tourism is to begin.

This radical disruption has cast a harsh light on some sharp divisions in the United States of America, a country that has seemed anything but united for a very long time.

Every now and then, there’s been a healing, a “rally around the flag” moment when a common threat unifies the country, even forges international bonds. Wartime is usually one. The mortal wound of 9/11 was the start of an endless war, but it was in the aftermath of the strike on U.S. soil, American flags were everywhere.

Those bonds weakened over time and in recent years, the old strains reappeared. The battleground in Congress and the courts over health care erupted between those who saw health-care access as a public matter and those who bristled over the expansion of government in that direction.

Sadly, a similar standoff has arisen over the public-health advisories issued to help manage the COVID-19 infection rate. The frustration over business losses has been completely understandable. Necessary as the shutdowns were, it’s natural to chafe under a government directive that has such a direct impact on livelihood.

What’s been tragically illogical is how the wearing of masks to contain the spread of the virus was twisted to become a political act. Granted, the public health authorities muddied the waters at the start by advising that the scarce, hospital-grade masks be reserved for the health-care workers and others on the front lines.

But even as shortages eased and the homespun cloth face coverings became available, mask mandates have been met with charges that they’re unconstitutional, even violent confrontations. There have been such arguments even in Hawaii, which has been largely compliant with these rules.

Facial coverings never should have been cast as the mark of a conformist; those who refuse to wear one when in close contact don’t qualify as rugged individualists, either. True freedom in this pandemic world is the ability to conduct one’s lives as fully as possible without pushing risk to excessive levels.

Until there is a vaccine, suppressing the virus is possible only through the safe practices of social distancing (including masks) and good hygiene. These don’t sound like heroic, patriotic gestures, but they are.

Fortunately, there has been a shift in the messaging about masks, prompted undoubtedly by the resurgence of infections in many states across the country. Vice President Mike Pence has been wearing masks publicly and urging their use. And President Donald Trump, thankfully, has begun backing away from dismissing such precautions as “politically correct.”

There is hope, then, that in the face of this national threat there can be a transition to a national strategy, or at least an accord. America has united to prevail over common enemies before; this is a time like none other to pull together.

That, amplifying the traditional holiday cookout fare, should be food for thought on this Independence Day weekend.