last year on the fourth of july i wrote a piece that tries to convey how joyful my white, cis, male privilege can feel and how grateful for it i can be. i did not try to shy my eyes or the reader’s eyes from the horrible pains of the world, but i also pointed out the wholesome pleasures i experienced during my backyard barbecue.
i expect to do the exact same thing later today. there will be a parade of people from my village and the surrounding towns. a townwide carnival on the fields of the village’s elementary school. people i know from a wide variety of circles walking past and saying hello. and a backyard barbecue of my closest friends and their families, as well as members of my own far-flung family who’ve driven in from chicago to be with us this week. all will be wholesome and fun.
but behind it all will be what we know is going on, the fears and anxieties caused by the political realities of our time, the potential for outright antagonism, even among friends, family, and neighbors. the children in the cages. the lead in the water. the absence of support for the people of puerto rico. the corruption of the various agencies of our government. the corporate capitalist takeover. the russian influences. the empty seat on the supreme court. the power-hungry lies of various media outlets with audiences in the millions. the lack of an organized opposition party. the continuing evidence demonstrating, day after day, that black lives still don’t matter and that neither do the lives of our school-aged children. the original and continuing sin of aboriginal genocide, both in terms of physical bodies and in terms of cultures and wisdoms.
it’s all there, laying around us as we eat our hot dogs and taste our hamburgers, an ever-increasing body count of victims.
and over it all, in the rocket’s red glare, the fireworks bursting in air, that star-spangled banner yet waves.
happy independence day everyone. be careful what you do with it.