Why I Don't Celebrate the 4th of July

What does it mean when someone says happy 4th of July? How is the 4th of July any different than the 5th, 6th or 21st?

One might respond, “it’s the day America celebrates its independence” and therefore assume I should join in on the jubilation but my confusion only continues.

Am I an American? You darn tootin I am. Born and raised.

But that doesn’t mean I understand why I would need to celebrate the day this country gained independence from Great Britain.

To understand my confusion, I suppose would require understanding of how I feel the other 364 days of the year and the injustices I see everyday based on the color of one’s skin, beliefs or preferences. According to the current president’s statement released today, America celebrates the “vision of our Founding Fathers revealed to the world on that fateful day”. But the only thing that comes to mind are the many fateful days that followed for persons of color forced to live in a land controlled by a government and it’s people who did not see them as equal, nor cared if they experienced life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.

How can I celebrate the anniversary of the day Jefferson introduced a document that he himself did not envision extending to the very people he too held enslaved? My answer is: I cannot.

Now, before you begin to feel some type of way about me not celebrating the 4th of July, let me share that I don’t celebrate Juneteenth either. I’m an equal opportunity kind of non-celebrant.

Simply put, I struggle with the idea of ignoring the part of this country’s history for the celebration of the other part. The acclaimed speaker and notable activist Mr. Frederick Douglass passionately expressed exactly how I feel today, though his speech was delivered in 1852.

What, to the American slave is your 4th of July” - Frederick Douglass

I realize I’m not a slave but so much of what he said still applies. For me this day is a reminder that this country’s ability to even entertain the notion of independence was directly dependent upon what was taken from and required of my ancestors. The inhumane treatment and control of Africans brought to this country by no fault of their own, those who were bred like livestock and those raped and forced to bear the children of their overseers, for the purpose of establishing a better life for colony Americans.

If this day 244 years ago could not be celebrated by every person in America, then why would every person in America celebrate it now?

It would take another 89 years for slavery to be abolished and 92 years for Blacks born in America to be viewed as citizens. The right to vote would not happen until 1870 and what followed the 15th Amendment were laws such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow, and poll taxes to keep Blacks from exercising these rights.

For every step forward, there were many more steps backward. Blacks were granted freedom but not provided with the means to start this new life. Instead slave owners profited from the government’s confiscation of their property and then created new ways to enslave the property they fought to keep. Blacks have had to struggle, beg, and plead for scraps to be thrown to them and then expected to be grateful and forever indebted for the generosity.

But hey…let’s light some fireworks, right?

I realize that everything mentioned up to this point is from a time long ago, and not my personal account. But even in 2020, this country still struggles with deep rooted hatred and racial inequality. There seems to be a resurgence of racist terrorism, Blacks are being lynched, killed by authorities and presumed guilty rather than innocent, and subject to far more egregious consequences than non-Blacks.

For years we’ve been expected to “get over it” and move on. For years we’ve been expected to see the election of the first African American president as a sign of racial harmony and acceptance. Yet, recently, we’ve had to endure the highest office being occupied by someone who referred to white supremacists as “very fine people” and permitted the gassing of peaceful protesters so that he could walk to a church building for a photo op.

Each year there’s a new hashtag for a person of color killed by an authority figure without cause or provocation. Children. Fathers. Mothers. Sisters. Brothers. The same laws that were enacted to hunt down fugitive slaves are still being used today.

Stop and frisk. Find something. Provoke a reaction. Claim resisting. Arrest. Convict. Sentence. Repeat.

That doesn’t sound like independence to me.

I suppose the 4th of July is just another one of those holidays that can be celebrated by some rather than all in this country, just like religious and local state holidays. The irony, however, is this is one of the things I appreciate as an American. I get to choose what I celebrate and how I celebrate it.

While I doubt I will ever join in on the celebration of Juneteenth, I will however say a private prayer and give thanks on December 6, 1865 when the 13th Amendment became law and in fact, freed slaves. I doubt I will ever light a firework on July 4th, but I will honor those who fought to secure women’s right to vote in 1920 and those who brought about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2nd. Of course there are other dates that are also important to me, and should be to others.

Like September 24th, the day I came into the world. Just kidding…not really.

Love.