The Fourth of July?
What to the unwanted child?
What to the womb enslaved by the state?
What to the traumatized school shooting survivor?
What to the asthmatic neighbor of a fossil fuel plant?
What to the Hindu youngster forced to witness a teacher’s Christian prayer?
What to the disenfranchised voter?
What to the transgender youth denied care?
What to the missing and murdered Indigenous woman?
What to the lover of the same gender?
What to the illiterate jobseeker?
What to the tormented veteran?
What to the victim of state violence?
What to the consumer of lead- and bacteria-laden water?
What to the beaten partner?
What to the unfairly incarcerated?
What to the homeless and hungry?
What to the maligned person of color?
What to the child of poverty?
What to the desperate asylum seeker?
What to the bullied student?
What to the target of hate?
What to the uninsured patient?
What to the spurned immigrant?
What to the exploited worker?
What to the slandered sexual assault survivor?
What to these folks is the Fourth of July?
What is the Fourth of July without those willing to challenge unjust authority—without those challenging unjust authority?
With love and fury—and thanks to Frederick Douglass,
K-B
Read Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Photo credit U.S. Library of Congress: “Scene in a Pageant ‘Democracy Victorious’ composed by Miss A.P. Borden of the Y.M.C.A. … This picture shows Great Britain, America and France, with Democracy in the background.” 1918.