I have complicated feelings about many things today. This country is at the top of the list. I’ve never fully embraced the 4th of July anyhow and the racist Star-Spangled Banner, but this year? There are tanks in the nation’s capital and concentration camps at the border yet many white Americans are more upset about black mermaids and Nike. As Americans, we need to reprioritize and demand human beings seeking asylum are treated humanely. Donate to RAICES and contact your representatives (in Minnesota). Listen to the Seeing White and Code Switch podcasts to understand how we got here.
- Listen to This July 4th Playlist If You Have Complicated Feelings About America
- Frederick Douglass On The Fourth Of July:
Your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery…a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
- Somehow fitting (but awful) on this day: Magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocks Southern California on the 4th of July
- Perfect for today, Charles Schulz’s Letter About Democracy, Discovered 50 Years Later
I think it is more difficult these days to define what makes a good citizen then it has ever been before. Certainly all any of us can do is follow our own conscience and retain faith in our democracy. Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call ‘American Virtues’ who lack this faith in our country. I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities. Sincerely yours, Charles M. Schulz.
- In slightly more hopeful news: ‘A huge deal’ People from around the world become US citizens on the 4th of July
Another 4th of July, another CONvergence. But this year it moved from the suburbs to downtown Minneapolis, which means my son can take public transportation to and from. He was a little too eager this morning. He was up at 6am and out the door soon after, in full cosplay. I hope the bus drivers get a kick out of it. I’m working tomorrow so I’ve had a quiet day to myself. Had a lovely walk around the lake, identifying new plants with the Seek app. But on my way back to the car I encountered a horribly injured but still living squirrel. Big mood, right there.
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