Independence Day Celebration
Written by Hana Kaneko
Edited by Ben Blavat
When I was a kid, the Fourth of July always represented fun: summer barbecues, endless hot dogs and ice cream, and being allowed to stay up past my bedtime to watch the fireworks over Prospect Park. It brought my dysfunctional family together, and in the eyes of a 9-year-old that meant everything. But once the light show was over and everyone folded up their lawn chairs, reality crept back in. As I watched drunk people stumble to their cars, my parents said nothing to each other on the ride home. As I grew up, the colors in the night sky lost their luster and the 2 a.m. boom of fireworks no longer blasted over the arguing.
The glorious display of a sparkling red, white and blue American Dream distracts from the history of a nation that was built upon selective “blessings of liberty.” What is liberty? Is it a history of systemic racism and genocide? A continued effort to take away women’s rights over their bodies, or a president who enables terrorists? Independence Day praises American exceptionalism and celebrates a broken democracy. The past four years have aggravated a deteriorating system that never worked to begin with — a system that failed to support families of color during a global pandemic.
The U.S. was built for the white man in his white Cadillac, driving through a parade of white faces.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the full return of the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks this year, the first taste of normalcy since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the country begins to lift restrictions and with a new presidency well underway, people look toward a new beginning. The past year has opened new avenues for accountability, reparations and acknowledgment of a long history of oppression and violence. Social media and the digital landscape have become platforms for education, support and discussion. There has never been a louder call for action and change.
The summer after my freshman year of college was the first time I celebrated Independence Day in six years. I was surrounded by a new family, one that outshines the glow of fireworks. It was a July Fourth reimagined by wonderful people that reflect the cultural diversity of the country today. We decentralized the white narrative of American independence by redefining what freedom means to us. As we face Independence Day this year, we must acknowledge the warped legacy of this country if we are to hold self-evident the truth that all people are created equal with the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
