4th of July
Story by Elizabeth Gonzalez
Photo by De-Bug

July 4th in the United States evokes patriotism across a nation that lately has laid on the loyalty a bit thick displaying their stars and stripes on everything from t-shirts to cars. But the pride that some feel around this time of year should be considered more closely because we seem to forget that not everyone in this country shares in the celebration --- since so many lost at the cost of American Independence.

In every U.S. History class in high school we learned that the colonists attempting to break from the rule of England decried   “Taxation without Representation!” We learned that they despised having to pay taxes and allegiance to a country—a power that they had no say in although they paid their fair share. It is a cause worthy of rebellion still today, yet the day that marks the birth of a nation and the supposed attainment of freedom, independence and true democracy has from day one been selective and applicable only to some.  

Colonizers freed themselves only to continue the cycle that they fought against and carry out even worse offenses than they opposed. The slave trade was already alive and thriving, with no plans in sight to eliminate the enslavement of people stolen from Africa, even when white settlers had just gotten their own taste of a freedom. Native Americans and Mexicanos---people who were all here before the British sailed across the seas, were subject to the “Manifest Destiny” mentality of the settlers who felt it was their divine right to settle a land that already had inhabitants for thousands of years.

Still, more than 200 years later there are still people who do not spend the day shopping the sales or enjoying the parades and fireworks. Instead they choose to remember history the way it really happened without convenient amnesia of such a recent and shameful past. I spoke with a couple of individuals actively involved in the community to get their thoughts about Fourth of July.

Ramon Martinez grew up in San José feeling like one of the only Natives around and that's why he's glad to have found the Barrio Defense Committee of San José, a group he describes as fighting to get the government to acknowledge the wrong doings of the past while also working for the rights of Native American Indians and Mexicans.

“Fourth of July if anything is a day of mourning just like Thanksgiving,” says Ramon. He talks about how people have tried to tell him that the flag is his heritage, but he rejects it as part of his history because the Natives were not given a chance to create their own flag and admits it is even hard for him to look at a flag. “I don't feel we should be forced to celebrate something that is not ours,” he concludes.

With more hopeful tone Ramon continues to say that being that it is 2005 and people of color have made such strides they should not have to continue with a conformist attitude and we should all be able to acknowledge the past in a more honest way. What is on his mind these days more than any Fourth of July is that the American Indian Caucus in Washington DC is drafting a bill to have an official Native American holiday in September. They are still in the process of getting different tribes' input on the bill, but hope to have it passed soon. That process is something he'd rather see people put their effort into and be aware of.  

Quetzaoceloaciua, a San José activist working against police brutality and famous for ending speeches with the words, “Tierra y Libertad” runs the Centro Azteca Chicomoztoc in downtown San José. When asked about July 4th, she exclaims, “There is no independence—never has been for Mexican people. As Raza, Indigenous people to these lands we have nothing to celebrate. It is really a sad day.” She believes that many people who celebrate the holiday do not know their history, but should understand it and know that, “It has been only a little over 150 years since a border divided our nation of Mexico.”

She goes on to say, “We should be talking about Independence from U.S. imperialism.” Speaking to the reality of the unjust practices of this government both at home and abroad, including the current war on Iraq. The rhetoric of freedom, independence and democracy continue to flood the media as our ultimate goal in Iraq, yet the people who are fighting for those very things at home are ignored and silenced. This fourth of July we should all ask ourselves what those three words mean, who they apply to and why.   We should ask how a country that supposedly is based on liberty can someday actually live up to that or are its people comfortable with continuing to glorify the freedom of a few by stripping it from many?