Forgive the messiness of this post. I'm not as eloquent as Frederik Douglass whose speech on "Independence" Day I didn't read until a couple of nights before the day after July 3rd. Ferguson and the people there are heavy on my mind. All of America (I say America as in the United States) is heavy on my mind.
There's something about the day after July 3rd that makes millions of people across the country shout, get together, and shoot fireworks. It feels warm all across the continental part of the country - I'm not sure from the sun or everyone's grills running simultaneously. Walmarts, or Targets if you're bougie, run out of special cupcakes covered in red, white, and blue sprinkles. Firecracker shops might be selling supplies for last-minute folk, that is, if they haven't ran out. The malls close early. Kids are excited in their red, white, and blue dresses. But, I already know how I feel about the day after July 3rd. It's August 11th, well after the day after July 3rd. So why am I talking about it?
Ferguson is heavy on my mind.
I see what I call "the spirit of 1776" in the people of Ferguson and the activists that stop traffic on both sides of highways, and the people on the streets handing out supplies, and the other nameless people who are here, there, and everywhere. July 4th 1776 was a hot day apparently, and it was raining and pouring as people marched and protested in Missouri 2015. Passion and rage will make you do special things.
Ferguson is heavy on my mind.
I lived in Baltimore through one of the most historical moments in the city and I saw how the media ran through the city causing chaos and distorting the story. I saw the tanks and the pointed guns and the spirit of 1776. I saw the hands held together and heard the loud joyous trumpets in the streets of Pennsylvania Avenue. I sung "This Little Light of Mine" and stood in the circle of prayer. I delivered bags of food to the protestors and community members. And I still see, today, how people discuss the events of Baltimore, undermining the powerful message - the demand for police accountability. So looking at Ferguson, knowing what happened in Baltimore, I can only look and see the power in their message because I know first hand how the media will spin its story.
And I wonder what it was like on July 4th, 1776. What were Black 20 year olds in urban areas doing on that day? Who is courageous enough to call the brave patriots who dumped a million dollars worth of tea into the Boston harbor thugs and criminals? What is the fourth of July but a day to suck the rest of the barbecue off your fingers? Did barbecue sauce and take home plates really divert the meaning of the fight for white Independence? What happened to the spirit of 1776, the spirit that fought injustice, the spirit that said no to taxation without representation?
It's not that I feel the need to celebrate a land that was essentially stolen from an entire nation of people (FYI, in case you didn't know, there were people here before the colonizers). I haven't even made a big deal about my Blackness. I'll save that for another blog post- Lordt knows I have a lot to say. I'm making this about the super patriotic red,white,and blue loving Americans- that is who I write this for. Or maybe I, a very confused American citizen, write this for myself. Or maybe for nobody, just words on a page.
Maybe I just need to give it some time. Maybe kids will know Ferguson as we now know the Boston Massacre. Maybe people like Deray and Netta will be immortalized in history textbooks as social justice heroes rather than the villains America seems to make them. Maybe Ferguson will be the start of America 2.0 - including bug and other programmed systemic error fixes. I have to remember the Boston Massacre happened in 1773, and the Revolutionary War in 1776. Things take time, of course.
Or maybe, the day after July 3rd will come around and be, once again, another day for barbecue, chips, and fireworks.