I noticed something different on my timeline this year. More and more of my friends and associates are refraining from celebrating “Independence Day”. Of course, there were the “woker than thou” posts condemning anyone for popping fireworks or grilling on this day.
Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, 1866, is the black American Independence day. This is the day that the last enslaved people in Texas were told that they were freed 2 years prior. With more and more blacks celebrating this day and acknowledging Juneteenth, we are seeing the tide change in what we call a celebration versus a day off.
The fact is that we have never really celebrated “Independence Day”. It’s been a day off from work, in which we use as an opportunity to gather, spend time with friends and family over food, music, and fun.
On this day in 1776, our ancestors were still enslaved people. The founding Fathers of this nation owned property all the while demanding their freedom from England. So yeah… It’s not about us at all.
Here’s the thing, we can’t be so judgemental amongst our own people. The more we are made aware about our suppressed history, we can educate others. And see how quickly the focus changes on creating and celebrating our own traditions.
We still have the The Fawf! A day in which we take to-go plates to someone’s house, invited or not. We bring our own liquor stash (cause who’s sharing), pop firecrackers and let off rounds 👀. In my opinion, we have done just another magical thing and created our own dope celebration.
We posed this question today to our followers: What are some things that WE do on the Fourth of July? Here are some of the responses we received on our FB page:
What are your thoughts on July 4th celebrations? Leave a comment below!
