Thoughts on the Semiquincentennial

by State Representative Supreme Moore Omokunde

The 4th of July/Independence day has always been a peculiar time of year for me personally.  As a child I participated in the 4th of July talent shows in the Milwaukee County Parks, winning first prize reciting Langston Hughes Poems. I can still hear the motorized Ice Cream Tricycles bringing Red, White and Blue Bomb Pops into the neighborhood.  I lived not far from the lake on the near west side which afforded my friends and I the opportunity to walk to see the fireworks.  This is what celebrating America represented to me: the pomp, circumstance, and festivities! Not having to be burdened with the dark history of the United States, nor the atrocities committed against African and Indigenous people.

My celebration was bolstered by the education I was receiving in Elementary and Middle School. We learned about the founding fathers and their courage in standing up to a Tyrant like King George and England.  We learned about their brilliance as they debated their political time of day and crafted the declaration of Independence, based upon principles like “No taxation without representation”.  The Bravery with which George Washington led our soldiers against the British Empire, securing America’s Freedom and the 13 Colonies along the pathway to Nationhood. All of this is celebrated every summer when the calendar turns to July.  There were even those well meaning white teachers who, in an attempt to appeal to my cultural pride, taught me about Crispus Attucks: the Black man who was the first person to give his life for America. I was even afforded the opportunity to portray him in a school play about the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

As I got older and began to study independently, I realized that my education about the country needed to extend beyond fully enveloped “Patriotism training”. That I need to look at the true history of this country, in its totality, as it really happened.  I began to realize that there may not be much to celebrate.  Chattel Slavery existed in the United States at the time these brave white men, many of whom were the enslavers, were rebelling against the Crown.  Treaties were being broken with indigenous Nations while they murdered them en masse via smallpox-infected blankets and clothing.  The older I got, the more disinterested I became in continuing the charade of these grave half truths.  And yet at the same time, I also saw more resistance by those who wanted myself and others to continue showcasing this Faux Patriotism. Even if they knew I didn’t really believe it, some Americans “required my performance,” especially around the 4th of July.  We were required to disregard what happened to those who weren’t land-owning white men during the Revolutionary War.  Or even what was taking place in America at the time of the Bicentennial. The current condition of large swaths of our society be damned.  We are to have one consideration alone:   That we are simply grateful to live in the so-called “freest country in the world”.

  As an elected official I find myself unwilling to participate in 4th of July Celebrations, even going as far as intentionally not wearing red, white or blue on that day.  I’ve refused to join in the hypocrisy of celebrating the birth of a nation and not telling its complete story.  As we approach the Celebration of 250 years, there is an even greater beckoning to disregard the dark parts of our history and dress in the costume to perform.  Because promotion of the greatness of America is paramount.  Even during the time when there are those who seek to hide or destroy the years of work done to advance the rights of those of us who are not land owning white men.  We live in a time when public policy is being created to undermine and deny Black people the access to education, economic grants and the fair share of what we have contributed to this society.  Where the mere mention of our greatness is downplayed as DEI and the burying of our stories and traditions becomes commonplace.

I am certain there are those who will read this and gleefully dismiss those of us who share this ideology and resistance simply as those who hate America and simply want to join our enemies across the globe in helping to destroy her.  For those who claim to love this country, I question the depth of your love if you are unwilling to hear the whole story. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but, the truth.  As James Baldwin famously said “ I love America more than any other country in this world and exactly for that reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”  I stand with all those who continue to shine the spotlight on all of the shadowed parts of our history and tell the stories and traditions that lie within.