what, to us, is the fourth of july?

in the famous oration made by Frederick Douglass, he asks,

What, to the American slave, is your 4th 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.

with racism at the forefront of the news, and our minds, this summer, we all must ask ourselves this question again.

what, to us, is the fourth of july?

why do we celebrate this date as our independence day, when so many of us were not independent and free on that day? but when would our independence day be?

june 19th, juneteenth, the day enslaved people learned of their emancipation

august 18th, the day the nineteenth amendment was ratified and women received the right to vote

march 20th, when japanese internment camps closed

june 26th, the day the supreme court struck down the ban on same-sex marriage, thus legalizing it in all 50 states

there are so many dates to choose from to signify dates of freedom because as it stands now, we are not all fully free in this land of the free.

to quote Frederick Douglass again,

There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

at this very hour, this statement rings as true as it did in 1852.

let freedom continue to ring, incrementally and loudly.