Some neighbors are “celebrating” July 4th with small bombs and gunshots. Others are flying enough flags to wrap the Statue of Liberty (she seems naked these days), proving just how patriotic they are (certainly they must be “better patriots” than the rest of us).
In Washington, D.C., the “Acting President” is saluting his ego and playing with tanks.
We’re having a quiet lunch with a few family members, and reading Frederick Douglass’ 1852 July 4th Speech (delivered in Rochester, NY on July 5 because that’s what African Americans did in those pre-Civil War days and because slave auctions were held on July 4th in the South!)
But I just can’t celebrate Independence and Freedom that much this year. Yes, I love America. I love it for the land, the diversity, the freedom to think and speak freely to call out our leaders for the wrong done in our name.
I can’t celebrate Freedom and Independence when families, children, seekers of freedom, are held in cages and treated with the same inhumanity that sustained slavery.
“America First”? Seriously? An America for whom?
“What to a slave [a refugee; a homeless person; a person without healthcare; etc] is your Fourth of July?”
Friendly Freethinker 
Love this. I have a lot of the same thoughts about the holiday.My patriotism is spent.
Agree. One of the reasons I sometimes use the word “Matriot.” Reflects the concept of a “citizen of the world.”
Interesting! I’ve never heard the phrase.
Matriot (“motherland” or “mother earth”) feels better than patriot (“fatherland” or one specific country). Thomas Paine spoke of “fellow-citizens of all nations” (The Age of Reason) and wrote, “My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” (The Rights of Man, Part II).