Independence Day reflects the politics of political freedom

Independence Day reflects the politics of political freedom

By Derek Joy

The Republic of the United States of America is celebrating her 237th birthday.

It is a time when fireworks displays capture the attention and imagination of Americans everywhere.

Could be because America was born from the fireworks of the Revolutionary War.  Once loyal British Subjects rebelled against the Crown.

Got fed up with the concept of the “Divine Right to Rule.”  Had it with the reality of living under conditions of taxation without representation.

And so, there was the Boston Tea Party where civil insurrection led to loads of tea being dumped into the waters of the Boston Harbor.  War raged on, counting a conservative estimate of 4,435 battle deaths and another 6,188 wounded.

Finally, the hard fought battle for freedom and independence was won when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

America was no longer a territory of the British Empire. She was a free and independent nation.  Yet complete with the very conditions imposed on people of color that drove them to fight for freedom from England.

War has been a frequent reality in the years since.  Even today.  The struggle to remain an independent nation where freedom rings remains an uphill battle.

Yes, war is that unwritten caveat to freedom.

People of color know that better than most.  After all, we came to America in chains.  Slaves for labor in building and maintaining a democratic nation without reaping the rewards in an economy fueled by capitalism.

There’s a real tragic twist of irony cleverly buried amid myths created by the majority who surged to power following the Revolutionary War.  They legislated slavery in the U.S. Constitution.

Made it legal for whites to own slaves.  Empowered them with three votes for every five slaves owned by them.  Blacks were nothing more than chattel property, not human beings.

Like it or not, this so in some ways to this very day – the 237th birthday of American independence.  No matter how subtle.

The devils of American Democracy are forever busy with legislative manipulation that keeps at least a measure of slavery intact.  Alive and functional to maintain a position of superiority.

Truth is, superiority is the result of a demographic majority and the control of wealth. It isn’t biological or physiological.  Not the mental or intellectual aspects that were promulgated for so long.

Hence, on this Independence Day, appreciate a freedom of the mind, the intellect that allows one to wage war against the injustice of all forms of slavery.