What, to People of Color, is Your Independence Day?
I refer to the celebration of the release of the Declaration of Independence as Independence Day, rather than the ubiquitous “Fourth of July.” It seems that this, of all holidays, should be known by its purpose rather than its position on the calendar. One hundred and sixty-nine years ago, escaped slave, Frederick Douglass, delivered a speech on July 5th to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. Less than a decade before the first shots of the Civil War, Douglass said:
“The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men…statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory…Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests.”
Like Frederick Douglass, I honor the courage and foresight of our Founding Fathers. I celebrate their determination to try a form of government the likes of which had not been tried before, based on the theories of their contemporaries — European Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau — and forebears like Charles Montesquieu and Thomas Hobbes. I also take time to think about their slaves, and about how the Founding Fathers felt that the right to vote should flow from being male and owning land.
Similarly, in the time of my childhood, Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act but pursued the Vietnam War; we are left to judge the Founding Fathers on their bold Constitution and their acceptance of chattel slavery, just as we judge LBJ on civil rights and the Vietnam War. When we look closely, we find that every human being is imperfect, and we must decide to celebrate their achievements AND to note their errors. This is the way in which the BIPoC community must look upon its own country, whether native or adopted.
Let us imagine for a moment that every nonwhite person in the US celebrates Independence Day in one way or another. Let’s imagine that the descendants of those who were here to greet the first White folx who arrived on the shores of the (unfortunately named) New World have some reason to celebrate the independence of the Thirteen Colonies from George III’s kingdom.
Let’s imagine that the descendants of those who inhabited the portions of the US that were once Mexico (another colonial enterprise) are grateful that geopolitics liberated them from one colonial stronghold and yoked them to another.
Let us imagine the descendants of the Chinese laborers who built the transcontinental railroad, the descendants of the Japanese who were interred during the 2nd World War, the descendants of the Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians who were forced to flee the American War (We call it the Vietnam War.) are all grateful for the United States. There are many groups of Indigenous Americans who are refugees from Asian Pacific Islands, US possessions such as Puerto Rico, as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
Let us now imagine the gratitude of the American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) for our treatment at the hands of our White siblings; the lynchings, the redlining, the cultural appropriation, and so on, and so forth. And yet, large majorities of all of these populations are for some reason patriotic Americans. How can this be? Why is it that, like Frederick Douglass, I must ask this question:
“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?…Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us…To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.”
I begin by reminding myself that that I am not a slave, nor have I ever been caught in the 13 Amendment’s loophole that allows slavery as punishment for crimes. I was allowed to attend majority White schools since the third grade, I received scholarships to elite institutions. I was shown extraordinary kindness by the wealthy parents of my friends. In short, I was at one time so well assimilated into White Supremacy Culture that, rather than pursue a career as a civil rights lawyer, I suffered middle class guilt trip and spent a career being paid by the wages of the bar receipts of (predominantly) White folx.
Just as W.E.B. DuBois did, nearly a century before me, I “gobbled up the lessons on how to win White people over” (Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, Jason Reynolds 2020, p. 119). Despite becoming exponentially aware of the true place of African-Americans in American life, I still think of myself as the Black Ambassador to White people. Of course, unlike DuBois, I was less influenced by the idea that “Black people had been ruined by slavery…in desperate need of fixing but unfortunately unfixable” (ibid p. 120). At an early age, I knew that I was intellectually superior to most people, irrespective of race — but only lately have I come to understand wisdom.
So, I celebrate the ideals of the United States of America, where the self-evident truth that All…are created equal, holders of unalienable rights, included, but not limited to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — E pluribus unum — is ours to make ever more real. I know many of my BIPoC siblings are similarly inspired by the generosity of American ideals, even as we are repulsed by American realities. Some of us are still uncynical about “one [person] one vote,” representation, and the possibility of one day being judged by the content of our character, rather than the color of our skin, the way we worship — or don’t, the way we love and marry — or don’t, and the way we exercise bodily autonomy.
This is a very good time to stop and consider that we are all Americans, we are less than 5% of the world’s population, and that because of our wealth and power, the future of the entire planet rests more heavily on our shoulders than on most.
I am spending more time creating a world that works for all beings, human & other. I deeply understand that until we see ourselves as One — whatever we think we are doing to others, we are actually also doing to ourselves — we will continue on a path of self-annihilation.
Believe me, I understand how hard it is to accept the right of those we disagree with to their ideas, and more so, accept the fact that we are ALL wrong about some of our cherished beliefs.
I also know that our future rests on our capacity to Be Peace, to radiate Love and forgiveness, to the degree we are able. I know some of you will be shocked that I am ready to forgive those who seem to be killing the country, but they also believe that that is exactly what we’re doing. If you want forgiveness for those criminalized in the school-to-prison pipeline, those who act in unlovable ways because their mental health issues remain unaddressed, those who cannot perform their family duties because of the cruel treatment of the poor, you’ll have to extend it to the insurrectionists, those trying to deny voting rights, and those whose decisions are killing the global ecosystem.
Think again what it means that whatever you do to someone else, you are also doing to yourself — and stop spreading hate and anger — start Being Peace. If you can stop, you are Practicing Inclusivity, and inclusivity is the only way I can see to avoid human dieback and potential extinction.
Happy Independence Day!
