Why I Do Not Celebrate

No fireworks for me this year. I am not celebrating the Fourth of July this year.  In fact, I have fled to Canada.

 

Don’t worry, it’s temporary. I’m only out of the country for a few days, celebrating the theatre and Shakespeare.

But I am thinking about the Fourth of July. I am thinking about when I was 12 years old and riding up the valley with my parents to the top of the hill.  We parked on the dirt road and watched the fireworks in the neighboring city. And we went home and drank iced tea and ate devil’s food cake.

Back then it seemed simpler. Back then I believed in America. Back then I pledged allegiance to the flag every morning and believed in liberty and justice for all. I believed America was good. Was right.  Was even godly. And I celebrated America.

Then a few years passed. And then came the Vietnam War and the My Lai massacre. And the students that were killed by the National Guard for protesting the war at Kent State University. And I Wasn’t sure if I believed in America any more.

Then came November 9, 2016 and I woke up from the long dream of America.

And now I can’t celebrate Fourth of July, Independence Day.  I can’t celebrate a nation that was born with the premise “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

I can’t celebrate a nation of “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. . .”

Because that doesn’t exist.

I can’t celebrate the Fourth of July when there are children curled up on concrete floors in Mylar blankets, crying themselves to sleep, separated from their families. I can’t celebrate the Fourth when there may be woman accused of murder for having a miscarriage. I can’t celebrate when I know that people aren’t allowed to vote because of the color of their skin. I can’t celebrate the Fourth when I know that we have a government that will let a few people make enormous sums of money while destroying the earth. When I see a government that condones and supports giant companies that benefit from massively overcharging people for live-saving drugs. When I hear of a government . . .  You fill in the blanks. Just take a recent headline.

So I won’t celebrate the Fourth.

But I do plan to celebrate.  On the morning of November 4, 2020 when I wake to find out that we have elected a progressive, democratic President, and Senate and House of Representatives.  When I know that we can start reclaiming our democracy. Start undoing the damage that has been inflicted on our country for the last several decades, and start to be the America that was envisioned by our founders.

That is when I will celebrate Independence Day.

This is an opinion piece, posted by Etta Worthington.