4th July


4th of July

“ It was the best of times , it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,… it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”( A Tale of Two Cities)
This July 4Th we are in the middle of a pandemic of which our nation is the epicenter, we have a president who seems incompetent, and once again the issue of race has boiled to the top.
It seems that race and slavery were our original sin as a country. We celebrate July 4Th because our Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on that date in 1776.  It declared that “All men are created equal.”  Among those left out were African slaves. Our civil war was fought over the issue of slavery. More American combatants were killed in the civil war than in all our other wars put together. Black slaves volunteered for the union army in large numbers and played a key role in the union victory and their own self liberation.
Despite this, Reconstruction failed, and Black Americans suffered a new form of oppression for almost 100 years. The Civil Rights Movement of 1950’s and 1960’s created a new hope for a racially unbiased country, and many came to believe that we were in a post racial society, especially with the election of Barack Obama. However, the recent events which have led to a massive mobilization of the Black Lives Matter Movement, has not only called this into question but has given the lie to it.
On the positive side are the videos of large multiracial demonstrations against racism and police brutality as well as the response of politicians to this ferment. On the negative side are the appearance of militarized police to brutally attack peaceful demonstrators as well as heavily armed far right militias. It is unclear how this will all end.   
Rosie the Riveter mask.



References:

 https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities.html?id=ZLy4AwAAQBAJ&source=kp_cover

https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/06/patriotic-face-masks-stars-stripes-usa-coronavirus-face-coverings-for-4th-of-july.html

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