Today is Independence Day!

All around the United States you will find its citizens full of Pride and Patriotism celebrating their Independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. What a great day in the history of this Nation. I ponder though constantly if this day fully represents all so-called Americans independence - I feel as though it does not.

These words spoken by Fredrick Douglass on July 5, 1852 give resonance to why I feel as such:

"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 sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, 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. "
http://www.historyisaweapon.org/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html

These words give depth to our American history, a past so full of deceit and lies. A past full of pain that I cannot fully commit to feeling free! Happy Memorial Day - a recollection of how slavery, oppression, and discrimination is still present in our country. How I do not feel as equal as most of my colleagues and how we are still enslaved socioeconomically - in our education, in our jobs, and in our very own communities.

Though I celebrate the Fourth of July every year. For me, it is a different day of remembrance -a different day of pride and patriotism. This day is a memoir to my ancestors -whom I must always pay tribute. There is still a war going on and a fight for Human Rights and Civility. I represent those individuals in spirit and truth. And though I celebrate my independence I carry on their dreams and hopes for a better day ahead. Today is Independence Day! I am ready to see the fireworks.