4th of July: Resisting is a White Privilege

Observation on American hypocrisy of protest and resistance

Independence Day

Of course, no one needs a history lesson here. The 4th of July — Independence Day — is an American holiday commemorating the penning of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Objectively speaking, it’s a beautiful day, marked by its use of colorful fireworks, and anything that glows in the dark or lights up the night sky.

What Makes a Patriot?

From an abolitionist’s standpoint, I have no issue with patriotism in itself. As an abolitionist photographer/writer/speaker, I have more of an issue with how patriotism is executed, versus patriotism itself. While many critics of America refuse the title of patriot, I would argue that they are. They all are patriots.

Nothing is more patriotic than holding America accountable, in proper judgment, objectively.

Holding America accountable for her sins and crimes as well as her victories is no different than being a parent holding a child to the same. One should not allow the right-wing fascists to essentially run amok with the title of “patriot”.

There’s a difference between patriotism and nationalism.

Another aspect of what it means to be a patriot is resistance. Resistance is more descriptive of what defines a patriot than any adherence to tradition or ceremony.

Suppression, oppression, and persecution are things not congruent with the idea of America, thus, it matters plenty that there are actually people who are willing to stand up and fight for the human right to exist freely, to have all rights as American citizens defended properly (because rights don’t mean shit if they are not defended equally).

And I say “idea” of America because there’s a distinction between America as an idea and America as a reality.

From this point, I’ll have to highlight the incongruency of how rights are protected and defended.

Patriots

Colin Kaepernick, is without question, an American Patriot. This is a fellow who stood up (or knelt) during a time of violence, inhumane and grossly unconstitutional police practices, and in essence decided that his silence as a relatively affluent NFL star quarterback cannot be bought by his paycheck, which is what white supremacy constructs for black athletes. One can argue that kneeling shows more reverence to the flag than standing, but yeah. Kaepernick should be considered a national hero.

Black athletes, similar to black churches, have been silent for years. Black athletes have long traded in actually being a patriot for counterfeit patriotism; pleasing the powerful and silencing the weak.

Not Kaepernick though. Instead of pleasing the powerful by silencing the weak, he stands as a man who has been silenced by the powerful.

White supremacy in America, Congruent with the history of the United States, decided to punish Kaepernick for, merely being more visible than a poor, unknown neighborhood protester. Despite being pushed out of the NFL via white supremacy, he’s still my favorite quarterback.

I don’t care about his stats, I care about his judgment.

Resistance is a White Privilege

This brings me to my point: The only reason why white people have not actively powered up gas chambers yet is that black people, to them, were meant to be objects to own, not free people in a free society.

American resistance is by large a white privilege.

Black people from a sociological standpoint, are not allowed to have a voice, and speak out against oppression, suppression, or persecution (and yes, when society punishes you for thinking, that’s textbook persecution). We are not even allowed to have memory.

Black people, by white people’s socialization process, were meant to be exploited, so the modern-day lynchings out-sourced to murderous police is not a side-effect.

We were not brought here, this land called America, to ever be free. If anyone thinks so, I suggest asking Philando Castile for his take on the matter. Or Sandra Bland. Or Freddie Gray. Or Richard Collins III. Or Darrien Hunt. Or Army Sergeant James Brown. Or Tamir Rice. Or Timothy Caughman. Or Jordan Davis. The list goes on and keeps building.

Fact: The Revolutionary War was a VIOLENT Protest

Looking at the 4th of July — a celebration of a very successful violent protest — and then telling black people that violence is an ineffective protesting tool, is slap-in-the-face hypocrisy.

I find strong hypocrisy in how white people infinitely demand that Black people need to be angelic, nonviolent saints in regards to protest, while whites have used violence repeatedly to procure their alleged freedoms.

The Boston Tea Party was a set of American whites, who destroyed British property by throwing highly taxed tea into the Boston Harbor. The company that owned the tea was the East India Company (British).

Think about it; had this been modern-day and you replaced tea with petroleum, and change the East India Company to Exxon, and you have terrorist activity.

No matter how it’s framed, it’s the destruction of property — which means any person reverent of our American forefathers and patriots should view the destruction of property as a valid protest.

What’s good for the white goose should be good for the black or antifascist gander. But it is not.

The Revolutionary War was a violent protest. One can even argue that white people have no idea how to protest nonviolently; they show up with alt-Reich fueled KKK torches and conduct hostile takeovers of remote government buildings with guns in hand. And of course, attack democracy because of a lost election.

Looking at the 4th of July — a celebration of a very successful violent protest — and then telling black people that violence is an ineffective protesting tool, is slap-in-the-face hypocrisy.

It’s another one of those white lies. And we all know that white lies have long replaced white hoods.

Un-American? How?

The fact that American resistance to white supremacist paradigms get demonized goes further when you realize what such protesters are called. These protesters, are called “un-American.”

How? It’s strange because I’ve been in a multitude of nations and I’ve never seen another nation do this. One doesn’t become, un-Italian, for example. There is no such thing as un-German, or un-French. There is no un-Nigerian or un-Filipino, but there is such thing as un-American. Why? How?

The fact that no other European nation does this highlights the fact that this un-American form of othering people is a uniquely white American thing.

Another white lie.

It seems that those who are in power in America (white people), simply do not like the notion of empowering others, especially those whom they exploit.

So it’s a great rhetorical device to construct — this “un-American” thing — to anathematize and otherwise silence those who seek empowerment and an end to various forms of exploitation and oppression. All of this points to the fact that resistance is a white privilege.

Was Anyone “Free” on Independence Day in the First Place?

One can argue if the people of America ever grasped freedom in the first place. If white people were dependent on the exploitation of black people, were they ever free? Were they ever independent? Breaking from British capitalism and exploitation of others to create your own exploitation of others, should be, objectively speaking, NOT considered independence.

I suppose I’ll enjoy the food and fireworks still and I hope you do too.

America as a reality still has a lot of work to do. I have no issue with those who enjoy the 4th of July. I have a problem with those who think that our independence is already won. It isn’t.

The good news is the fact that there are me and others who won’t stop until that independence is actually ours.

Overall

Just understand that everyone is not free, including those who think they are. Understand that if you are celebrating the 4th of July, you are celebrating a violent protest where approximately 25,000 Colonial Americans died and approximately 24,000 British Soldiers died. Understand that your American self might be “the British” to your other fellow Americans, if you know what I mean.

Remove un-American from your vocabulary, please.

✪ My intellectual labor fights white supremacy. Subscribe. ✪ I got community activism photography. Look. ✪ This, is my Twitter. This, is my Instagram. ✪ Subscribe AfroSapiophile. There’s a team of writers like me.