“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth 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, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”
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- Frederick Douglass
On the Fourth of July this year, I started my job working as an usher at a concert arena near me. It was a Fourth of July celebration with families donned in red, white and blue enjoying classical music and fireworks. Everything was going great. I was taking tickets and showing people their seats like a boss. And then I looked up to see an older white man with a smug look on his face wering a red “Make America Great Again” cap. My mood significantly declined.
July 4th: The day that deemed “all men are created equal” under the Constitution as the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain. Huzzah...I guess. Except for the fact that there was an implied asterisk after men with a note saying all white men are created equal. Because who would ever think that a man or rather any person with a dark pigmentation and a whole lot of melanin could even be remotely considered a human being? So yay, U.S.A.! You're independent! Except if your skin color falls between caramel and coffee. Then you ain’t sh*t.
It’s not just the 4th of July that I have a problem with, but pretty much every holiday that the U.S. celebrates.
Columbus Day: the day a white man, while attempting to look for spices, found a huge chunk of land and claimed it as his own despite the fact that there was a full-fledged civilization.
Thanksgiving: the one rare moment that Native Americans weren’t getting slaughtered by white colonists and were sitting “peacefully” with them. Are we even sure this story is 100% accurate? Because I am slightly skeptical.
Presidents’ Day: the day we are supposed to celebrate the men that led this country as slave owners and white supremacists.
Not to mention all the Christian holidays that have become heavily integrated into the nation’s culture despite our constant claims for needing separation of church and state. Take Christmas, for example. When you think of Christmas, most people don’t automatically think of the birth of Jesus Christ (let alone know the whole biblical story), but instead think of Santa, presents and Christmas trees. I mean, where did that even come from? I blame capitalism. There are people who aren't even remotely religious or atheist that celebrate Christmas, despite its religious creation. Also, when did Easter, the day remembering the resurrection of Jesus Christ, become about a bunny and eggs? In what way are the two related?
The list goes on.
This country is literally based on hypocrisy.
We pride ourselves on being this big "melting pot" that beautifully combines people from around the world into one homogenous nation, when we’re really more like a mixed salad. While occasionally letting in new cultures and people and having them mix, we ultimately keep them separate from each other and from the white base of lettuce. We pride ourselves on being an accepting, diverse nation that can help fulfill dreams, when in reality, this country can't even solve its own problems of xenophobia, poverty, high unemployment rates, etc.
What I’m trying to say is overall, America is like a baby. When it’s happy, everything is fine and dandy. But when it doesn’t get its way, it throws a fit and will destroy everything in its path. And, due to the fact that it is still developing, this American baby has not yet developed a theory of mind, meaning that it cannot understand ideas, concepts, situations, etc. from other people’s perspectives, ultimately making it hypocritical and selfish.
Holidays are crap.
Why are we celebrating this so called “greatness” if it is based off of the torment and terrors of others and this false belief in righteousness?
