By Phabulous Phabulous
I haven't celebrated the 4th of July for many years now. I can't say that I haven't eaten barbecue at some friend's homes, but I haven't planned any celebrations of my own. My reasoning is that I don't believe that black and brown people are not free to this day!
Some of my associates tell me that I make "everything political." Well, everything in the supposed "United" states of America is governed by laws. How we walk, talk, communicate, what we eat...all political.
So, back to why I don't celebrate the 4th of July. I had been contemplating the reasons why I should and should not celebrate. Well, I should because everybody else does. Hmmm...that did not work for me. Well, I should because I am free. Hmmm...that shit most definitely didn't work for me. Then I thought about why I shouldn't celebrate the 4th of July, and the answers overwhelmed my thought patterns. So, don't celebrate it. I would rather celebrate Juneteenth!
From between the Civil War to World War II, southern blacks were no longer slaves, but were not yet free. Isn't that true today? Blacks were forced to work at the positions of close to slavery as quickly as they could be put into that position. The southern whites could have not survived without their "Chattel." Southern whites used that straight-forward simple system of using force and brutality, in many ways, to try to achieve the same benefits of slavery, without owning human beings. Blacks are still living under a forceful and brutal system that says on paper that we are free. What is the reality?
On January 1st, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free.
The Proclamation itself freed very few slaves, but it was the death knell for slavery in the United States. Eventually, the Emancipation Proclamation led to the proposal and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which formally abolished slavery throughout the land. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves in the United States. Rather, it declared free only those slaves living in states not under Union control. ... The proclamation allowed black soldiers to fight for the Union -- soldiers that were desperately needed. It also tied the issue of slavery directly to the war.
Imagine, the feeling that blacks had after being freed from slavery. They wanted to reunite their families, own their own land, build their own schools, educate their own children, have their own churches. There was a tremendous desire to integrate into "American Life." What the hell is "American Life" anyway? Blacks wanted to walk from the plantation into a new future. Have we made it off the plantation yet?
The primary engine of the cotton economy (slaves) were lost. More than 1/2 of their economy was invested in slaves. Once the slaves were gone, so was the economy. Southern white slave-owners were used to having someone serve them. After all, why should they pay for something, that had always been free.
When blacks became free, were able to work for themselves, to own land, to own guns, to compete, whites considered them a threat. Doesn't that sound like today? Of course, those white people who are bigoted and those who are racist,
( yes, there is a difference) would never be threatened by someone black. But isn't that what the police say when they murder another unarmed black person? They they felt threatened. How many Karen's have there been?
Southern whites were also worried about black taking revenge against them. I think that they should have been worried. After centuries of brutalizing, dehumanizing and enslaving black, they should have been worried. Today, many right-wing politicians have convinced their constituents that they should still be worried about "Black Rage". Black people have valid reasons to be angry. When someone calls me an angry black woman, I wear it like a badge of honor.
I do not believe that much has changed about the white supremacist system of codes and values. Have blacks gained rights? Sure! Have some things improved? Sure! Blacks are not equal in America. So how can we be free? One cannot have one, without the other.
I might have been inclined to celebrate the 4th of July, if I had any reason to believe that Black people would get reparations. Well, that won't happen. Just look at who is still running the country...corporate America and their political cronies. Slavery took the money, the " American Dream" out of the hands of black people. The only way that we will get political justice, or gain true freedom in every way is to take our money out of the hands of corporate America. Visit
theblackdollardays.com for further information.
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