What is Independence Day to the Children of the Enslaved
*This post is an updated post of the original piece posted July 4th, 2016.When we think of Independence Day, most of us think of a day off, others of us think of fireworks, grilling, family, and friends. Some of us are enjoying block parties. Some of us are enjoying a backyard bbq. Some of us are enjoying the beach.
And there is not anything wrong with enjoying this holiday.
However, while we are enjoying the day, we ought to really stop to consider the implications of the holiday.
Facts are that on July 4th, 1776, while the colonies of this country were celebrating Independence from the British, people, my people, Black people were still slaves. Many of those slaves who fought for this nation's freedom would earn for themselves none.
It would be almost a century later when the heinous and inhumane practice of chattel slavery would be abolished here. And even still, Black people on these shores would still have to endure the harsh sting of racism through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, The Civil Rights movement, and even today.
From the civil war to civil rights, this nation has been less than civil to its civilians of color, all while demanding their civility. You can see this strange standard by the treatment of Rep. Maxine Waters, who has faithfully served this nation for over 42 year, combatting injustice and oppression since taking offices, when her comments about reunification of children taken away from Refugees were taken out of context, twisted, and regurgitated upon this administration's loyalists from the highest office in this country and her own party members distance themselves from her. Meanwhile, she is met with daily death threats daily. They demand our civility while giving us threats. I don't think that's what the founding fathers meant when they said: "Give me liberty or give me death."
The daily incidents like this, and so many others that make holidays like today a little weird for Black people. On one hand, we love what the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the cute quotes from our country's most renowned say. On the other hand, our people have only ever known trauma, family separations, inhumane treatment, constant brutalization, hatred, and the denial that this country is even our own, despite the fact that there is no place on these shores where Black tears, sweat, and blood have been.
We are just as much America as the flag, the Liberty Bell, and this holiday, but we have historically been afforded little of the benefits of being such.
I hear the words of Langston Hughes,
It would be almost a century later when the heinous and inhumane practice of chattel slavery would be abolished here. And even still, Black people on these shores would still have to endure the harsh sting of racism through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, The Civil Rights movement, and even today.
From the civil war to civil rights, this nation has been less than civil to its civilians of color, all while demanding their civility. You can see this strange standard by the treatment of Rep. Maxine Waters, who has faithfully served this nation for over 42 year, combatting injustice and oppression since taking offices, when her comments about reunification of children taken away from Refugees were taken out of context, twisted, and regurgitated upon this administration's loyalists from the highest office in this country and her own party members distance themselves from her. Meanwhile, she is met with daily death threats daily. They demand our civility while giving us threats. I don't think that's what the founding fathers meant when they said: "Give me liberty or give me death."
The daily incidents like this, and so many others that make holidays like today a little weird for Black people. On one hand, we love what the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the cute quotes from our country's most renowned say. On the other hand, our people have only ever known trauma, family separations, inhumane treatment, constant brutalization, hatred, and the denial that this country is even our own, despite the fact that there is no place on these shores where Black tears, sweat, and blood have been.
We are just as much America as the flag, the Liberty Bell, and this holiday, but we have historically been afforded little of the benefits of being such.
I hear the words of Langston Hughes,
"I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed—"
Major voices for the fight for total freedom would rise, one of those would be of the former slave turned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. His speech on "The Meaning of the 4th of July to the Negro" remains to this day a powerful reminder and a call to action that, as a free nation, we should seek the total freedom of all who set foot here.
Whether it was the slaves of this nation's founding years or refugees fleeing oppression and violence today. It is a call for this nation to make peace with the violence and injustice of its own past and to live up to the high ideals and content of its most time honored creeds and principles in the present for a better, more free future.
Whether it was the slaves of this nation's founding years or refugees fleeing oppression and violence today. It is a call for this nation to make peace with the violence and injustice of its own past and to live up to the high ideals and content of its most time honored creeds and principles in the present for a better, more free future.
One of my favorite quotes from the 5 minute long speech goes as follows:
"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour."
So, in honor of the 4th of July, here is the speech read in its entirety, by James Earl Jones.
Happy Independence Day.
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