Dear America,

We, the people, will celebrate your 250th birthday tomorrow. Some of us will line the streets and fill public parks with red, white, and blue flags in our hands. Others will mourn, lower their heads, take a knee, and consider hypocrisies in the home of the brave, land of the almost free.

Tomorrow is Independence Day, but Frederick Douglass questioned this holiday. Remember, he asked, “What to the slave is your 4th of July?” Ancestor James Earl Jones read Douglass’s speech on an episode of Democracy Now!

If you didn’t watch the entire video, here are two phrases: “The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.” Douglass delivered this speech in 1852, but his words hold weight in 2026.

Your latest president attempted and failed to implement his birthright citizenship agenda this week. Give thanks, your Supreme Court blocked efforts to reverse the Fourteenth Amendment’s promises of citizenship to people born or naturalized on your stolen land.

How would you sleep knowing that children born in the United States could lose their birth rights?

On July 4, 1776, your pioneers celebrated leaving England’s reign. Some Americans cheered as they gained newfound freedom, while Africans suffered in bondage. The people you enslaved remained in chains for almost another hundred years.

Make it make sense for the people. Does freedom for some require slavery for others? I hesitate to answer this question because it’s illegal in some States to teach students about slavery.

Authorized agents removed woke curricula in schools because it kept our youth awake. You would rather children stay asleep and learn a lopsided version of history by osmosis.

We know that when children drop out of school, many will enter this great nation’s prisons. There’s money in keeping people of color and others from underserved communities behind bars.

Capitalism guides the prison industrial complex. For 250 years, you’ve demonstrated that dollars dictate decisions.

Perhaps I’m being too critical; I should shut up, forget the past, ignore the current injustices, and enjoy the fireworks. The MAGA patriots would prefer I leave, but the First Amendment says I have the right to freedom of speech.

This letter is not hate speech; it’s tough love. You’re built on the backs and through the struggles of enslaved Africans. You can handle critical feedback.

These are just words from one of your free citizens.

Perhaps I’m not who you intended to include in the free race. My brown skin, colored black through social constructs, predetermines the oppression and opportunities available to me at birth.

Pause here and reread the previous line.

Racial trauma traveled from Frederick Douglass to my ancestral bloodline. Despite learning and working through my inherited issues, I’ve transferred trauma to my children.

Just last week, my teenage son called me scared. He had decided to stay at home while the rest of the family attended a swim meet. The wind had closed a downstairs door while he sat upstairs playing video games.

He thought someone had broken into our home and wanted to call the police. From our conversations about interacting with the police, it was clear he was afraid to call them for help. Within seconds, I packed up the car and sped home to find him safe and our possessions intact.

Should feelings of fear be pervasive in a country as great as the United States of America’s aspirations? I have little faith in orange men to keep Black people safe.

I could go on, but I need to prepare for your birthday party tomorrow. My family has insisted that we show up, stay for the fireworks, and enjoy a slice of apple pie.

Happy 250th Birthday! You are not great yet, but if you listen to the people, anything is possible.

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This post was previously published on Vernon C. Lindsay, PhD.

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