Yesterday at work my coworkers were grumbling over the new schedule. This isn’t anything unusual; it’s the fast food version of everyone coming in and getting their coffee and gossiping before settling into their cubicles. We get our drinks, we crowd around the new schedule, and we grumble.
But everybody was grumbling about Wednesday, and then everyone was staring at me when I said “why, what’s on Wednesday?”
Oops.
I forgot.
I also forgot just how many horrified looks you can draw by saying “I don’t celebrate the Fourth of July.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
These were the words written and signed on the second of July, 1776, and adopted as the unanimous policy of the then-thirteen United States two days later. These are the words we claim we’re so proud of when we eat our hotdogs and light our fireworks.
But I don’t celebrate the Fourth of July, and haven’t since 2014, because they’re not true.
It isn’t self-evident in the United States that all men are created equal. When these words were written, slavery was still 81 years away from being abolished. Black men weren’t equal; women weren’t, either. Native Americans and First Nations peoples? Forget it. They weren’t even considered “people.”
Today is the 242nd anniversary of the composition of the Declaration of Independence.
Today there are thousands of men, women, and children who came seeking asylum sitting in concentration camps in the United States.
Today the people of Flint, Michigan have been without clean water for over 1500 days.
Today thousands of people in Puerto Rico are still without electrical power or adequate medical care due to Hurricane Maria.
Today three unarmed citizens will be killed by police.
Today the people of the Standing Rock Sioux are still fighting a pipeline laid across their land in violation of their treaties with the United States.
Today over six million people, almost three percent of voting-age Americans, are not permitted to exercise their right to vote because they have been convicted of a felony—even those who have already served their time. That number includes 33% of all Black men in America.
Today penal slavery, identified as such by name, is still enshrined in the Constitution: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Are these people equal? Or is this Animal Farm-style equality, where all men are created equal, but some are more equal than others?
Are we offering life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to these people? What about our disabled citizens, many of whom can’t marry for fear of losing their benefits, or who are facing certain death if Medicare is cut? What about the one in five American children who will go to bed hungry tonight, and can only dream of a hotdog tomorrow? Is there liberty or pursuit of happiness for those who work 60-100 hours a week just to put food on the table?
Do those words apply to me?
Today our government is not by consent of the governed. Today our government threatens us, tries to shut down legal protests, and suggests violence against our congresspeople and free press. And by what power can it be dissolved? Billions of dollars, maybe, but little else. And the people with the billions are the ones already in power.
I won’t be celebrating the Fourth of July this year.
The way things are going, it doesn’t look like I’ll be celebrating it next year, either.