The 4th of YOU Lie: Why I Don’t Celebrate America's Illusion of Freedom.

Every year, fireworks light up the sky and people throw on red, white, and blue like it's liberation day for everyone in this country. But for me—and many other Black Americans—it’s not a celebration. It’s a reminder. A reminder that July 4th, 1776, wasn’t our Independence Day. It was the beginning of a national lie.

Let’s talk about what really happened.

On July 4, 1776, the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence—boldly declaring freedom from British rule. But they weren’t declaring freedom for everyone. They were enslavers. Some of the very men who signed that paper owned human beings. The same people yelling about liberty were building their futures on the backs of my ancestors.

And here’s the kicker:
🎯 The Revolutionary War didn’t end until September 3, 1783.
🧾 The Constitution wasn’t even signed until 1787, and when it was, it counted us as 3/5ths of a person.
🔗 My people didn’t even get legal “freedom” until June 19, 1865—Juneteenth. And that’s only because the Union Army had to roll up in Texas and force them to stop lying. Two full years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

So when I hear “Independence Day,” I ask—whose independence? Because it sure wasn’t ours.

Black people have been told to celebrate a holiday that never included us. We’ve been gaslit into thinking liberty was universal when we were still enslaved, disenfranchised, and legally dehumanized.
Even today, we’re still demanding access to the rights this country said we were born with: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But only if we survive police brutality, mass incarceration, environmental racism, underfunded schools, redlining, medical neglect, and the rest of the mess America hides behind a flag.

So no, I don’t celebrate the 4th of July.
I call it what it is: The 4th of You Lie.
And the only Independence Day I claim? Juneteenth.
Because that’s the day we actually started walking toward freedom, even if we’re still fighting for the full promise of it.

Let them have their fireworks. I’ll be over here lighting up the truth.

If you care about truth, justice, and seeing the world through a Black, unapologetic lens—this is the space for you. Real talk, no watered-down takes.