It’s Independence Day, according to the calendar. Today is the celebration of America becoming America. Our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, establishing our 13 colonies separating from Great Britain.
As a child, it meant cookouts, sunburns, swimming, sparklers, and fireworks displays. As an adult, it sometimes meant a long weekend, a day off, and, as a parent, it was a great excuse to buy cute red, white, and blue outfits. Now, as a middle-aged adult who moves in social justice circles, I have a completely different view of it as a holiday.
The first change in the way I viewed Independence Day came within the last couple of years, starting with reading an excerpt of “What To The Slave Is The Fourth July” by Frederick Douglas. It had never occurred to me, in a lifetime of white privilege, that people were slaves when the Declaration of Independence was signed, so never in our country’s history have we all been free. We should have been aware of this, but the history of white men from England and Native Americans has also been penned to purposely make us believe that it was a great family-style buffet of corn and turkey when the ships arrived.
But sit with the fact that as they were signing the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers were slave owners. Three of them, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Paine, never owned slaves. From the beginning, we were separating and building a country on white supremacy, viewing only the majority of our country as worthy of consideration of freedom and independence.
FDR, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, said in 1944 during his State of the Union Address that “people who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” In fact, he goes on to say, “We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.” He even goes on to speak of an economic bill of rights!
In 1944, the President of the United States was calling for the right to “useful and remunerative jobs in the industries or shops or farms or mines.” He said that farmers had the right to make a decent living, businessmen had the right to work in an atmosphere of freedom from monopolies and unfair competition! And, included in this economic bill of rights, he declared that all Americans, regardless of race or creed, had “the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; The right to a good education.” (You can view his address here: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/address_text.html)
Here we are, 77 years later, still demanding the same things. My one regret at this point is that it took a whole new career and circle to begin to realize how far from the great American Dream so many of us are. When I’m talking to parents who are working full-time and their excitement about the Child Tax Credits are centered on buying food for their family, clothes, or paying rent, I realize that freedom isn’t possible when you’re living under such economic oppression. For black and brown families, it’s even more impossible.
We’ve been this way for too long. And, because of that, I won’t be celebrating this holiday. I cannot fathom one more minute of pretending that I live in a country that I’m overly proud of, because I’m not. We’re fighting for our democracy right now with The For The People Act. We’re fighting for our livelihoods daily. The pandemic didn’t create any of these issues but merely exposed them.
The little bit of free time I have this weekend will be spent working on plans as to how we, West Virginians, work on developing an economic bill of rights through a grassroots network. I will be working on how to reach people about the For The People Act, paid leave, Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit expansion, child care reform, and food security. I’ll be thinking about minimum wage increases and health insurance for all. Because it is way past due, this Independence that we all hear so much about.
Our Independence won’t come from an individual or a media-hot senator, but, rather, from us, people like you and me. People who know what it’s really like out here for most of us, the poor and working class. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be worth it. Let’s #RattleTheWindows!
Onward,
Amy Jo
