The Fourth of July, aka the day America gained her independence, is fast approaching. Many people will be walking around in their Red, White, and Blue, flying their American flags, singing songs about America, and showing their patriotism. I won’t be one of those people because I don’t celebrate the Fourth of July. Many may view my belief as un-American; “How dare you not celebrate the Freedom of this great nation?” The reason why I stopped celebrating the Fourth of July isn’t because I’m un-American or that I don’t love my country because I do. I fully understand and comprehend what it means to live in the United States. I am grateful for the men and women who serve and fight tirelessly to keep our shores safe. However, when you understand the history and meaning of the Declaration of Independence, you notice certain things. Exactly who were our founding fathers referencing when they said “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”?

Now, if you know anything about American History, you know that in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, the above mentioned clause referenced affluent, White males. Back then, women were nothing more than property and African Americans, well, we weren’t even considered as a whole person. Also, in 1776, slavery was still very much legal and didn’t end until nearly a century later in 1865 with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Also, women, White Women to be exact, didn’t gain the right to vote until 1920 with the passing of the 19^th amendment. Based on these facts alone, why should I wave around an American flag, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and honor a country that has done nothing but take, and take, and take from me? Sure, many will argue that Black people are complaining and playing ‘the race card’ and how if we don’t dress a certain way, look a certain way that we can achieve the ‘American Dream’.

That belief my dear friends, is a lie; and if you honestly believe that, you have been sadly hoodwinked and bamboozled.

If you want proof that what I’m saying is true, take a look at one of the greatest Civil Rights Leaders and Humanitarians of all time: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Everyone references him, adores him, and idolizes him as the epitome of what Blackness should look like. I take nothing away from Dr. King’s brilliance and heroism. The sad fact about Dr. King is that he did everything that White America says that we as Blacks should do-he did not have a ‘ghetto’ or ‘urban’ sounding name, he did not dress like a hoodlum or a thug, he spoke eloquently, was educated, he was not hostile with police officers, he was a religious man, a family man and so much more. He was all of these things; sadly, none of those credentials saved him from being killed April 4, 1968.

Unfortunately, we are still taught that if we act like Dr. King, we will be okay. We are still taught that it is our hair, our clothes, our hostility towards Whites and police officers, and the way we speak that gets us killed. We are forced to assimilate into White culture and yet, when we still end up dead for whatever reason it’s our fault. So is assimilating and being a ‘Good Upstanding Black Citizen’ a good thing if we can still end up dead? If so, tell that to Sandra Bland, tell that to Freddie Gray, tell that to Emmett Till, to Tamir Rice, to Darrien Hunt, to Trayvon Martin and Rekia Boyd. Tell that to Medgar Evers, to Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair, the Four young girls who were killed in the 16^th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963; tell that to Charleston 9 who were shot dead in their church by Dylan Roof last Summer.

You cannot tell me that I am free only if I look and act a certain way. You cannot tell me I am free when I walk around and see the double standards of injustice every day. You cannot tell me that I am free when things like Ghettos were created specifically for Black and Brown people. You cannot tell me I am free when I learn about cases like the Tuskegee Experiment, in which the Government injected African Americans with Syphilis between 1932 and 1972. You cannot tell me that I am free when Black people account for more of the U.S. prison population than during slavery. You cannot tell me that I destroyed my own neighborhood when President Roland Reagan’s War on Drugs specifically targeted disproportionately large numbers of Black people, leading to mass incarceration rates that have only continued to sky rocket over time.

No America, I will not celebrate this country’s freedom when my own people are still enslaved. Just because it is illegal to physically enchain us does not mean our shackles have been loosed. We are still enslaved through covert and overt institutionalized racism and the disproportionate numbers of African Americans who are stereotypically displayed as ‘the problem’ within Black society. No America, I do not accept your form of freedom, because I fully understand that I am not free. To quote "Grey’s Anatomy" star Jesse Williams:

"There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There’s no tax they haven’t levied against us. And we’ve paid all of them. But freedom is somehow always conditional here. ‘You’re free,’ they keep telling us. ‘But she would have been free if alive if she hadn’t acted so-free’. Now, freedom is always coming in the hereafter. But you know what? The hereafter is a hustle. We want it now. We’ve been floating this country for centuries, yo, and we’re done watching while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying Black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil-Black gold. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations and then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. Just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.”

So when the Fourth of July rolls around next week, sure, I’ll go to the family cookouts and laugh, and smile and eat all of the great food, but I won’t participate in the traditional festivities of waving around American flags, sporting my Red, White and Blue outfit, or singing the National Anthem during the fireworks display. Why? Because America is free, but just not to me.