What Are the Racial Implications of the 4th of July?
This 4th of July, we posted a series of articles allowing ourselves and our followers to reflect on what freedom really means in the United States in the midst of ongoing systemic racism and increased division. To Black people, Indigenous people, and other People of Color (BIPOC), celebrations of American freedom today are a stinging reminder of American hypocrisy. There can be no freedom until the devastating effects of racism are no longer felt in our country.
If you missed our Facebook posts, or just want to re-read the articles we shared, you can see them all below.
‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’: The History of Frederick Douglass’ Searing
Independence Day Oration
by Olivia B. Waxman (TIME Magazine)
Image by Kon Karampelas from Pixabay
How Black Lives Matter Transformed the Fourth of July
by Peniel Joseph (CNN)
Do American Indians Celebrate the 4th of July?
By Dennis Zotigh (Smithsonian Magazine)
Image by dlewisnash from Pixabay
On the Fourth of July, ask when patriotism became synonymous with selfishness
By Mikki Kendall (NBC News)
Read by Alexa Anne Watson, Douglass Washington Morris II, Haley Rose Watson, Isidore Dharma Douglass Skinner, & Zoë Douglass Skinner (NPR)
Image by Javier Robles from Pixabay