Bob,
I suspect that most people who celebrate, are just seeing the fourth of July
as a summer holiday when you barbecue, swim in a pool, if you have one, and
watch the pretty colors of the fireworks. They're not really thinking about
what it means. They give lipservice to all the patriotism because they've
been conditioned to do so. I think that people emigrated here because they
did believe they could have more material comforts and more freedoms than
they had in their home countries. I think that it worked out for a lot of
people. However, life was a lot harder here than they'd anticipated. A lot
of them had been lured here with promises. But for some of them, life was so
unbearable where they were, that they believed that they were forced to
leave. And even now, even with all the terrible treatment that emigrants
from Latin America encounter when they come here to escape from gang murders
and unbearable poverty that really, our country has been responsible for,
they still think that somehow things will be better here. But I have to say
that it is obvious to me from the book I've been reading about the Armenian
Genocide, that America really did believe that it was the beacon of truth
and justice, even as it was practising injustice throughout our hemisphere.
No wonder people are confused. It's a confused legacy that we've inherited.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2015 5:40 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: 'What, to the American Slave, Is Your 4th of
July?'
Hi Miriam,
Good post.
I must say that joining this list over ten years ago has helped me to see
the light as regards the United States.
In the past, I had always felt that the injustices that are part of our
history were unfortunate, but, for some odd reason, (probably brainwashing),
I was proud to be an AMErican for at least the first 30 years of my life.
Then, in the 1990's, I experienced some injustice of my own and read Howard
zinn. That's where my evolution began. I began to believe more and more that
maybe the entire history of America is an injustice perpetrated first upon
Native Americans and Africans and then upon all minorities and the poor.
Yet, I noted that many from other nations continued to come to America in
search of a better life. So, I thought, perhaps, in spite of all the
injustice, America maybe is a better place to live than most other nations.
I continued to celebrate the Fourth of July as the anniversary of our
independence from the British Empire. Given our growing income inequality,
our constant and jingoistic wars of occupation and control, I decided that I
can no-longer in good conscience celebrate the Fourth of July. I'm sure that
my family and friends will want to get together and barbecue and shoot off
some fireworks. I'm thinking that if I participate, I'll be a hypocrite. On
the other hand, if I stay away, I'll be depriving myself of some awfully
good eats and boy do I love to eat. Perhaps I'll enjoy the meal and then
lose myself in a book while the rest of it goes on.
Further thought leads me to believe that most people here on Planet Earth
have no reason to celebrate the birth of their nations.
Bob Hachey
