America’s 250th anniversary

 

“Your arrogance makes you think that everyone sees the American dream the way you do.” Dr. BLR

 

As the United States is about to embark on a monumental celebration, I had to ask myself whether I wanted to partake. There is no doubt this country is a wonderful place to live, particularly if you can afford the rising prices. That said, this country also has a history that often gives me pause. 

My entry into this country began in 1964, when I technically didn’t have all the rights afforded to white Americans. My freedom from this discrimination began eleven days after my birth on July 2. To add insult to injury, if I had been of voting age, I still wouldn’t have been able to vote without discrimination until August 1965. Looking at it from a numbers game, minorities have only been legally free from discrimination for approximately 62 years. Let me park that for a moment.

According to Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project, slavery is the foundation of the United States of America and its original sin, one that hasn’t been repaid to its victims. This book has sparked a lot of controversy, but sometimes the truth hurts. I’ve followed the discussion on race for decades, and it never ceases to amaze me how dishonest those are who believe racism and discrimination are in the past. 

If I looked at the past 250 years, from 1776 to 2026, I don’t know if I could, in all honesty, celebrate. Yes, things have changed, but so much more needs to be done. At the outset, slavery was legal. Slaveholders were allowed to retrieve escaped slaves seeking freedom. Laws were enacted that restricted the movement of Black people and barred them from testifying against any white person. The powers that be also thought it was a good idea to legalize segregation through the Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” doctrine. But it doesn’t end there.

The Civil Rights Era saw Black people and people of color fight to either keep the minimum rights they had or to fight for rights they didn’t have. There was a strong backlash from the majority communities, who were afraid of losing the rights they were born with. Picture that. They are in control of everything, and they are afraid of losing it; in what world would that happen? I guess they listened to President Trump’s words when he claimed that “Civil Rights led to white people being ‘Very Badly Treated.’” Makes no sense, but every Karen/Ken needs a boogeyman. 

Post-civil rights, we saw several policies that discriminated against minority communities, including the War on Drugs, sentencing disparities, the effects of redlining, and ubiquitous police violence. These are only a few examples. 

This discrimination didn’t affect only Black people. Native Americans were displaced from their land and relocated under the Indian Removal Act, which led to the infamous Trail of Tears and the deaths of thousands. Should they celebrate this anniversary? Japanese Americans were also forced into internment camps during World War II. Although they received reparations, should they celebrate this anniversary?

Racism and discrimination will take all prisoners, and this is evident in the invasion by ICE agents deployed in Democratic cities whose leaders failed to bend the knee. The world is watching the destruction of families by an agency whose members’ training is being questioned. Regardless of your particular stance on immigration, what is happening to undocumented immigrants and American citizens is reprehensible. You have to ask yourself whether you are proud of what’s going on. If you answer yes, some soul-searching is required. Moreover, you can’t tell me there aren’t any European undocumented immigrants, and why aren’t their communities being targeted? Yet it is a sad commentary on the political structure in this country that a person can be led by the nose by something he’s seen on TikTok or another social media platform, leading to a rash decision about federal police deployment. Also, there’s no way I can celebrate when about half of those who voted in the last election thought it was okay to elect a person convicted of 34 felonies, who discriminated against Black people, sexually assaulted women, settled several fraud cases, sued major news media outlets because he didn’t like the way he was portrayed, and was believed to have incited the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

A bigger issue is the rollback of DEI and civil rights protections, which has decreased the number of Black, Brown, and women working for the federal government. Over the years, different administrations have enacted policies to address past discrimination. For years, these programs, although not universally accepted, allowed minorities and women to achieve positions otherwise denied to them. But this is America, and they will never be happy unless most of the spoils are given to them. I get it. If I had the ball, I wouldn’t pass it just as easily, but the landscape is changing, and the change is happening far too quickly for some. It will take white people not being afraid of what they believe Black and Brown people will do to them if they lose power, given what they’ve historically done to Black and Brown people. The guilt may be too overwhelming. 

As I reflect on this topic, Americans are celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, a federal holiday. While I was never truly a fan because of his nonviolent stance and Zionist leanings, his words still resonate because he called out America for many of its discriminatory practices and its embrace of militarism and capitalism at the expense of everyday Americans. For the record, I favored Malcolm X and his “By any means necessary” position. If you put your hands on me, there will be no turning the other cheek. Believe that!

Now, on July 4, 2026, when the United States and many other countries will be celebrating the 250^th anniversary, I will sit back and watch. I’ve always said that if something isn’t funny, I will not laugh just to appease anyone. The same goes when I am not happy; I will not cheer to fit in. I remember the stories my relatives told me about what happened to our ancestors. Historical evidence also shows that several of our U.S. presidents were slaveholders, and they adorn our currency. So was Francis Scott Key, who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, which makes us honor what slaveholders did to Black people. Black people are expected to just let it go. Not me. I will celebrate when racists and bigots are socially uncomfortable, and their white brethren fix the ills of this country. Until America makes amends, I will grab my popcorn and be a disinterested spectator.