July 4th Is NOT for Black Folk

It was a hot afternoon in downtown Hartford. The sun was out. The humidity guaranteed that the 30-somethings at Actup’s Juneteenth celebration were sweating. Despite the heat, the crowd smiled and the mood was jubilant. Our numbers swelled, and I felt a sense of community and self-worth. Two days prior, President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday. Juneteenth marks the end to slavery in the U.S. It’s the longest-running African American holiday. Juneteenth is to Black Americans what Independence Day is to other Americans.

Enter Jonathan Lande, an assistant professor at Purdue University, who has read some books on Black history and can’t wait to tell the masses in his article: “The Fourth of July is a Black American Holiday”

You cannot celebrate Independence Day without devaluing the lives of the enslaved. Freedom from British rule does not eclipse Black enslavement. Professor Lande asserts that the holiday includes well-documented Black political protests that challenge the prevailing narrative of “independence and freedom.” While “Spenser” is correct that black intellectuals and freedom fighters have called out the hypocrisy of the Fourth from the start — it’s still no Black American holiday. “Brett” needs to understand that the American status quo doesn’t define blackness. Blackness cannot be reduced to its relation to whiteness.

Yes, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth used the Fourth to expose white hypocrisy. Respect to the ancestors. But they don’t obligate Black folks to celebrate the Fourth, either. The audacity of whiteness knows no bounds. According to “Ted,” while America celebrates Independence Day, Blacks must accept another burden: educating the masses.

We don’t need to celebrate the Fourth. At the crux of the writer’s implicit dogma is an imperialist attempt to force feed Black people Americanism. I chose to be defined by what I celebrate authentically. I reject becoming some anti-hero of Western values.

The word “Holiday” comes from the Old English “Holy Day.” On July 4th 1776, the United States declared independence from British rule. On July 4th 1776, around 4 million enslaved peoples lived in the former colonies. That day was “Holy” to some — but not all. America celebrates July 4th as a holy day of independence, conveniently obscuring the humans within its borders who remained shackled. And so, Black folks have set their own terms.

We cultivate our own “Holy Days.” In many ways, our interests, histories, and cultures are not digestible in the stomach of American legacy. What value will we choose to place on the 4 million enslaved peoples of African descent?

Look, like most Black folk I’ll take the summer day off work and use the time to play dominoes with my kinfolk. As far as I’m concerned, no white person should fix their lips to tell me about what I should celebrate on the 4th until I see that same energy for Juneteenth. This symbolic ass Federal holiday isn’t enough. Instead, Lance: Write an article with the following titles and get back to me:

• When will whites come to celebrate Juneteenth?
• When will we stop trying to feed black folk “American Pie?”
• Independence day is to Yankees what the confederate flag is to white southerners.