Okay, so first off, Happy Fourth of July!!! And yes, you can celebrate it no matter what color you are. It’s always weird to me when it’s frowned upon to show pride for your country, which brings me to the topic of this blog. As a young black female, most of my family no longer celebrates Independence Day since Juneteenth became an official holiday. I’ve mostly heard that it’s the “Fourth of July for Black people”. So the reason why Juneteenth became a holiday is because in 1865, African-American slaves in Texas were not notified of their freedom until two years later, since it was originally granted in 1863 by then-president Abraham Lincoln. Therefore, it’s considered a “Second Independence Day” because it was that day that all Americans were officially free. I always love learning about bits and pieces of history that we’re never taught about in school.
Anyway, even though this day marked the official emancipation of African-American slaves, there’s still so much backlash for choosing to still celebrate the Fourth of July as a Black person. Then I started to think to myself, do non-Mexican people celebrate Cinco de Mayo? What about people who weren’t ever in the military celebrating Veterans Day? You can celebrate a day that historically doesn’t represent you specifically? And the real meaning of the Holiday was to celebrate America’s freedom from Britian, not necessarily all the social injustices at the time. I understand people not being comfortable wanting to celebrate certain holidays because of it’s historical intent (like Thanksgiving, for example), however I think our country could do a better job at not trying to be so devisive. Today, July 4th, 2023, we’re all considered Americans. What’s so bad about that?
Happy Holidays and feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments!!
– A Teen’s Mind
A Teen’s Mind 
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