'The 4th of July to me, is more like the 400th lie that's been told to me. Yet fireworks go off, we get our best outfits, cook, and drink the night away. It's a complicated day.'
On this Fourth of July, a holiday meant to celebrate the independence of a nation founded on genocide and slavery that is currently denying its own promise to welcome newcomers to its shores and grant equal rights to its citizens, we asked 13 cultural leaders—activists, writers, politicians, astrologers, fashion designers, to reflect on what the holiday means to them.
You think about the red and white and blue and the pride of being American. Immigrants are probably one of the most proud Americans in many ways, because they found refuge in this country that they weren't able to find back home. I speak for myself as an immigrant, coming from a family of immigrants, married to another immigrant.
July 4th is a reminder of slavery. Japanese interment camps. Segregation. Muslim Bans. Race riots. Mass incarceration. No Jews Allowed. The AIDS crisis. Crosses burning. Hopes in flames. Children in cages. Gender non-conforming, trans, and queer folks criminalized and incarcerated. Black folks murdered by police with impunity.
July 4th is a day to dismantle any aspect of our privilege that we can. It is a day to remain active. Get calling, communicating, and mobilizing myself and my fellow recipients of this unjust system, towards justice. A day to think about where my money, time and attention goes. This is a day to protest the Muslim ban by calling my Member of Congress.
We are still struggling to obtain a piece of mind and the ability to safely skip down any American block, as our bodies are always a target for a myriad of different violences. As Black folk in America, we are still fighting for true independence to be as free as the air we fuckin breathe. Black Americans have turned traditional American holidays into moments of showing how much we love another through food, laughing, and sometimes arguing despite the fuckery of it all.
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