The Real Independence Day

Do not celebrate July 4th. Any American who is not a heterosexual white man did NOT receive independence on the Fourth of July. People of color were still lucky to be considered third-class humans since almost none of them were allowed to be citizens. Several were still enslaved, raped, murdered, beaten down, tortured, exiled, or all of the above. Women wouldn’t receive the right to vote for over 140 years.

Stop continuing outdated and unnecessary traditions.

July 4, 1776 marks the day American colonists declared independence from Britain’s rule. They refused to be subject to Britain’s laws and taxes without representation in deciding such matters. It would take another 170 years for the United States to grant independence to their colony, The Philippines. The USA still owns 5 colonies with large populations of permanent residents who are subject to the United States of America’s laws and taxes without representation in deciding those laws. It may sound strange to say the USA owns colonies. That’s because they prefer you to call them territories now.

July 2nd, 1776 marks the actual day the Continental Congress drafted and began to sign the Declaration of Independence. After using Britain’s military and resources to steal the land from the Native people, they wanted to keep the stolen land to themselves and form a brand new country. The Native people were in no way included in this decision.

We know about the Trail of Tears. Some of us were lucky enough to read about it in our history books. Not nearly as much as we read about how Europeans brought culture, trade, new goods and animals, religion, medicine, clothing, and a host of other wonderful stuff to the savage, backwards Natives. Not nearly as much as we read about the struggle early settlers endured to establish the colonies. We read how early settlers battled against disease, political unrest, food shortages, and harsh weather all while defending themselves from the Native’s brutal attacks. And, oh yeah, by the way, some Native people died and it was sad, but it’s fine now. We let them live on little camps we forced them onto in the first place.

But there is far more to the absolute unjust and inhumane treatment of Native people than forcing them off their land. The United States has systematically reduced the Native population and culture to what could be considered an endangered species.

The United States Federal government broke into homes, kidnapped Native children, and proceeded to brainwash them to follow, love, and obey a White-centric lifestyle. These so called “boarding schools” were really the government’s concentrated effort to erase Natives from history by slowly turning the children into their obedient servants who wanted nothing more than to be as close as possible to being White. They made a deliberate and extensive effort to erase Native culture from existence for over a century.

The United States Government acted as dystopian overlords in this manner until 1973. Which means there are parents and grandparents still alive today who attended these Reeducation Prisons. That means there are congressmen still alive today who allowed these abominations to exist who can still serve in office or even be elected President one day. That means there are members of the police, police chiefs, and police veterans who carried out these kidnappings who are still alive today. Some might even still be a part of America’s domestic military.

Freedom is not Free. It is not enough to stop the oppression; the oppressors must make things right. The United States Federal Government has no right to claim change is difficult when this country is built on the bloodstained backs of African slaves who worked on stolen Native land.

Let’s take a look at one basic, seemingly unalienable right: the right to vote.

The right to have representation and decision making power in the country you live in, work for, fight for, and (many would say most importantly) pay taxes in. Let’s look at who had the right to vote and when in the United States of America starting with the year Congress declared all men were created equal.

1776: Property owning white men

1783-1856: All white men (states individually granted the right over this time period)

1870: Black men who passed literacy tests, paid voting fees and taxes, had a white person vouch for them, and survived the trip to the polls (both police and white citizens would stand outside polling locations to kill or beat any Black man who tried to vote). These were the Jim Crow laws.

1920: Women who were recognized by the Government as US Citizens. The Government did not recognize most Native and Asian people as citizens. Black women had to also navigate the Jim Crow laws and survive their trip to the polls.

1924: Native Americans who did not live on a reservation, did not enroll in a tribe, paid voting fees, and passed competency tests.

1952: Asian American citizens who could read and write English (even though the United States has no official national language).

1961: Residents of Washington DC but only for President, not Congress. (Yes they still pay taxes.)

1965: All American Citizens can now vote without exception!

Well, unless they live in a US “territory” like Guam or Puerto Rico (yes they still pay taxes). Or if they were convicted of a felony which includes charges like graffiti, shoplifting between 200 and 500 dollars, and distributing less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Also, they need to obey their individual state’s Voter ID laws, find an open polling location, and hope their voter registration isn’t put on hold or purged through no fault of their own (looking at you Kemp). Oh, and Native people who live on a reservation and only have a US post office box might need to apply for a residential address and get specific IDs if they want to vote.

Take a quick glance at that list and you’ll see one group of people got the right to vote with ease and without exception. Yet, Native people, who rightfully own this land, don’t have their ballots hand delivered to them at the time of any election alongside a check from the US Government.

I seriously don’t understand. Why would you ever celebrate a day that isn’t for you? This isn’t like twenty or forty years ago when there was no real good way for people to get widespread accurate information about what really happened in this country on July 4th, 1776. We know now. We know Independence Day celebrated the independence of wealthy white men and nobody else.

Every other person in America, without any choice in the matter, traded serving beneath a King across the sea they didn’t choose to serving beneath a panel of men who lived nearby they didn’t choose.

We know it wasn’t simply because of different times or something lost in translation. We have written records of the founding fathers openly stating they did not want to upset the patriarchal system. They said women shouldn’t vote because they could not handle such difficult decisions and should focus on taking care of the home and raising children. They said Africans were sub-human creatures who had no ability to be decent, without strict discipline, let alone have the ability to vote rationally. They said the Natives, the people who originated in this land, didn’t deserve to have a voice in what happened to it.

We can’t change the past, but we can stop celebrating past mistakes.

So, I really don’t understand why I see women celebrating Independence Day. I don’t understand why I see my Black neighbors celebrating Independence Day. I don’t understand why I see non-wealthy white people celebrating Independence Day. I don’t understand why there was a protest in a city nearby demanding the right to celebrate this ridiculous holiday during a literal ongoing pandemic.

I don’t understand why these same people are nowhere near as passionate about the holiday honoring Military Veterans as they are about the holiday marking the day rich white men decided they wanted to run their own country.

July 4th is not Independence Day. It is Entitlement Day.