Now It's July 4 Fighting, p. 4
Dublin Core
Title
Now It's July 4 Fighting, p. 4
Description
"Everyone and his brother, from the White House on down, sought to tie his moral convictions, his politics or his identity to the Fourth of July. The leaders of some of the many protests against the war in Vietnam scheduled a gathering in Washington, July 4. They do not believe in a government founded on the Declaration of Independence ought to be warning against the people of Indochina and killing off thousands of young Americans.
These protestors collided with an observance of an “old-fashioned Fourth of July,” scheduled for Washington, which was said to have been pushed not so secretly by the White House. In heated words rooted in compartmented allegiances rather than in a national common birthday celebration, the activists changed that the old-fashioned party was just for the purpose of sneaking an endorsement of the Nixon policies. The old-fashioneds retort that the radicals, as they call them, sought to use the nation’s birthday for disruptive attacks on American traditions.
While this debate proceeded, the National Committees of Black Churchmen asked colored Americans not to participate in annual Fourth of July activities. They wanted Black Liberation Day to be set up and observed. To help along the blackness bit, the black clergymen have written a Black Declaration of Independence. In this document they recite the wrongful acts committed against colored Americans during the 350 years they have been on this continent. The text urges “every necessary means to protest and disrupt the machinery of oppression.”
Millions of Americans, including non-whites, have attitudes on President Nixon’s policies, on the Vietnamese war and on the treatment of black people. However, they do not want these feelings substituted for the Fourth of July, even though there has been a sharpening of awareness that the United States is less than perfect.
Not on the Fourth
On the Fourth of July, they do not want Mr. Nixon’s homilies and his interpretation of his record shoved down their throats. They know by now what the peace-loving radicals are going to say without having a hat dropped to get the talkathon started.
The Black Declaration of Independence puzzled them. Were legitimate colored grievances, like the legitimate indictments of the war, being used on a holiday to further division and, perhaps, separatism? Murky future aside. IS it not appropriate to make a free choice of Independence on Independence Day?
For all her faults- politicking, money-making, studying war some more, mistreating colored and pursuing other dubious courses- this is the country of all of us. The traditional Fourth of July oratory leaves us amused.
We go fishing and swimming. We drive across country in our automobiles. We visit relatives and go on picnics. We drink lemonade, iced tea, beer and stronger potables. We take boats and waterways.
At stadia, tracks, courts, beaches and links we watch and participate in sports. We wrestle with barbeque grids or just loaf.
Birthday lather
We want changes, but we can’t consider them July 5 and all the rest of the year? Do we have to get ourselves into a lather on our birthday? Is the President right or wrong? Is the Vietnam War an immoral racial conflict?
Is genocide being practiced against colored Americans? What about the student killings at Kent State and Jackson State universities? Unemployment? Campus unrest? Inflation? And four letter words?
A one day moratorium might make it easier to get back to the labors of shaping up a better world. Or must our nation be destroyed first?"
These protestors collided with an observance of an “old-fashioned Fourth of July,” scheduled for Washington, which was said to have been pushed not so secretly by the White House. In heated words rooted in compartmented allegiances rather than in a national common birthday celebration, the activists changed that the old-fashioned party was just for the purpose of sneaking an endorsement of the Nixon policies. The old-fashioneds retort that the radicals, as they call them, sought to use the nation’s birthday for disruptive attacks on American traditions.
While this debate proceeded, the National Committees of Black Churchmen asked colored Americans not to participate in annual Fourth of July activities. They wanted Black Liberation Day to be set up and observed. To help along the blackness bit, the black clergymen have written a Black Declaration of Independence. In this document they recite the wrongful acts committed against colored Americans during the 350 years they have been on this continent. The text urges “every necessary means to protest and disrupt the machinery of oppression.”
Millions of Americans, including non-whites, have attitudes on President Nixon’s policies, on the Vietnamese war and on the treatment of black people. However, they do not want these feelings substituted for the Fourth of July, even though there has been a sharpening of awareness that the United States is less than perfect.
Not on the Fourth
On the Fourth of July, they do not want Mr. Nixon’s homilies and his interpretation of his record shoved down their throats. They know by now what the peace-loving radicals are going to say without having a hat dropped to get the talkathon started.
The Black Declaration of Independence puzzled them. Were legitimate colored grievances, like the legitimate indictments of the war, being used on a holiday to further division and, perhaps, separatism? Murky future aside. IS it not appropriate to make a free choice of Independence on Independence Day?
For all her faults- politicking, money-making, studying war some more, mistreating colored and pursuing other dubious courses- this is the country of all of us. The traditional Fourth of July oratory leaves us amused.
We go fishing and swimming. We drive across country in our automobiles. We visit relatives and go on picnics. We drink lemonade, iced tea, beer and stronger potables. We take boats and waterways.
At stadia, tracks, courts, beaches and links we watch and participate in sports. We wrestle with barbeque grids or just loaf.
Birthday lather
We want changes, but we can’t consider them July 5 and all the rest of the year? Do we have to get ourselves into a lather on our birthday? Is the President right or wrong? Is the Vietnam War an immoral racial conflict?
Is genocide being practiced against colored Americans? What about the student killings at Kent State and Jackson State universities? Unemployment? Campus unrest? Inflation? And four letter words?
A one day moratorium might make it easier to get back to the labors of shaping up a better world. Or must our nation be destroyed first?"
Creator
Roy Wilkins
Publisher
Baltimore Afro-American
Date
1970-7-11
Collection
Citation
Roy Wilkins , “Now It's July 4 Fighting, p. 4,” African American Fourth of July, accessed April 28, 2024, https://africanamerican4th.omeka.net/items/show/108.