Hey friends, I’m coming off a weekend with my extended family. We laughed, ate comforting food, gawked at how big the kids are getting and how quickly the summer was going. The timing could not have been better. I am still angry about the events of the Supreme Court rulings last week, am always angry about the ways this country is HARD on Black people — the ways it tries to keep us down by any means necessary, with expressions of racism twisting and evolving and shape shifting and destroying things my ancestors have fought for. At this point in history, and on this day in particular, it’s important to be clear eyed about this American tradition.
Jul 13, 2023·edited Jul 16, 2023Liked by Austin Channing Brown
Thank you for opening up the space for us to question how the national holiday made us feel this year, Austin. It bothered me but I hadn't reflected on what that might mean.
I was driving through parts of the rural West on the 4th of July, coming back from a long trip through remote country. For the first time, the "in your face" flag-flying along the way disturbed me in a deep way. I experienced that flag as just the symbol of the current occupying nation-state on Turtle Island. Waiting for it to symbolize anything else seemed futile.
It struck me that this beautiful land deserves something better than a political system built on freedom for some humans and oppression of everyone/everything else. I resolved to try to out-live it! I'm not sure what this means but I'm aware that this is the second occupying nation-state (at least) that the indigenous part of my family have survived. Maybe I'm finally realizing that the continued existence of the "United States" is not a given. The ancestors are reminding me to keep it all in perspective.
Thanks Austin. Yes. This day is not celebratory. I like your reference to acknowledgement. I too am waiting. Many are waiting. Waiting with you and fighting with you!
I continue to read and educate myself and continue to share what I know to be the true history of America.
Keep doing what you are doing! It is so appreciated!
Thank you for opening up the space for us to question how the national holiday made us feel this year, Austin. It bothered me but I hadn't reflected on what that might mean.
I was driving through parts of the rural West on the 4th of July, coming back from a long trip through remote country. For the first time, the "in your face" flag-flying along the way disturbed me in a deep way. I experienced that flag as just the symbol of the current occupying nation-state on Turtle Island. Waiting for it to symbolize anything else seemed futile.
It struck me that this beautiful land deserves something better than a political system built on freedom for some humans and oppression of everyone/everything else. I resolved to try to out-live it! I'm not sure what this means but I'm aware that this is the second occupying nation-state (at least) that the indigenous part of my family have survived. Maybe I'm finally realizing that the continued existence of the "United States" is not a given. The ancestors are reminding me to keep it all in perspective.
I see you. I hear you. 💜
Thanks Austin. Yes. This day is not celebratory. I like your reference to acknowledgement. I too am waiting. Many are waiting. Waiting with you and fighting with you!
I continue to read and educate myself and continue to share what I know to be the true history of America.
Keep doing what you are doing! It is so appreciated!
Nancy