Why the fourth of July is Bittersweet for me
Dark hand in chains with American flag behind Credit: NNPA
Today is my mother's birthday, so it has always been a very special day for me. I am deeply grateful that I still have her in my life.
Today also marks the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence—the birth of a nation that would eventually become the United States of America. On July 4, 1776, representatives of the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming their intention to separate from Great Britain.
For many Americans, the Fourth of July is a day of fireworks, barbecues, parades, and celebration. Yet for me, those celebrations exist alongside the painful realities that accompanied the founding and expansion of this country.
It is easy to celebrate freedom while overlooking the immense suffering that made way for the nation's growth. Historians estimate that Indigenous populations in the Americas were devastated by introduced diseases, warfare, forced displacement, and other consequences of colonization. Entire cultures were disrupted, and countless communities were destroyed.
It is also impossible for me to ignore the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade. More than 12 million Africans were forcibly taken from their homes, transported across the Atlantic under unimaginable conditions, and sold into slavery throughout the Americas. Many died during the Middle Passage. Those who survived endured generations of brutality, family separation, exploitation, and violence.
Nearly ninety years after the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, declaring freedom for enslaved people in the Confederate states during the Civil War. Even then, the struggle for equality and civil rights was far from over.
I will still wear my red, white, and blue. I will gather with my neighbors, enjoy good food, and appreciate the opportunity to celebrate together. But don't mistake my participation for ignorance. I celebrate with an awareness of the tremendous suffering, resilience, and sacrifice that are also woven into our nation's history.
The decisions made by our founders—and by generations that followed—continue to shape the lives of people today. For me, the Fourth of July is a day of gratitude, reflection, celebration, and mourning all at once.
It is a day of mixed emotions—both sweet and bitter—and that is not always easy to reconcile.