Skip to main content

Extra Blog: 4th of July in Washington, DC

This Wasn't a Normal 4th of July Holiday for Many Americans




While many Americans experienced 4th of July differently this year, with closed beaches in California, no firework shows in much of New England to discourage crowds gatherings, and parades being canceled, other Americans gathered on the lawn at the President's invite despite spiking coronavirus numbers nationwide and outrage for many Black Americans who were not granted freedom until June 19, 1868, almost 92 years after July 4, 1776.

See the source imageEnslaved Black Americans watched 4th of July celebrations of freedom for their fellow White Americans for almost 100 years before being granted freedom themselves. This has been a new topic discussed on social media within the past few weeks and with the current political climate, was never, to my knowledge, addressed by the current President. The President named the event that took place yesterday on the lawn "Salute to America." It's almost as if he is asking us to salute a President who has proposed drafts to the Supreme Court to disrupt LGBTQ+ healthcare rights, call black people in outrage over a murder "thugs," and all while failing to demand justice for so many other lives that have been lost in the past months such as Vanessa Gullien and Breonna Taylor. When so many lives and lives of loved ones are being disregarded or not shown importance by the leader of our country, many people may find it hard to hold faith in our nation and our leaders.

In many of his press conferences or speeches like above, the President says "this great heritage belongs to citizens of every background and every walk of life, no matter our race, color, religion, or creed, we are one America." Although his words yesterday were those of unity, many of his previous actions and words were very divisive to minorities in this nation. Taking into consideration the social climate, in addition to the current pandemic, was it the best option to hold "Salute to America" on the White House front lawn yesterday? As an American, I think it is important to be proud of where I am from, love my country, but also recognize its flaws, be engaged in its political system, and push for a better tomorrow. We should recognize the 4th of July as a celebration of the beginning of continued growth, and that doesn't stop now or ever. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to my blog

My name is Katy Parisi, and I am a double major in Political Science and Strategic Communications with a minor in Public and Professional Writing at High Point University. I hope to one day attend law school and own my own law firm. Throughout my life, I was a competitive gymnast and cheerleader and won the biggest competition in the cheerleading world, NCA nationals in Dallas, Texas. F rom my experiences in the sport, I learned dedication, grit, and leadership. Something interesting about myself is that I am a vegan, and I actually love vegetables. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog #1: Digital Echo-chamber

What are we learning if our ideas are only being reinforced? A problem that many Americans have is that they think they are more educated on a topic than they really are. Freedom of the press relates to social media in the way that it gives people an outlet to create user-generated content and allow for their own voice to be heard. But the problem begins when people use their echo-chamber social media as their only news source. An echo-chamber, defined by The Oxford Dictionary in the video below, is an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.  A  digital echo-chamber  is formed because social media users tend to only follow and like posts of people whose opinions agree with them. For example, if someone was a liberal and voted Democrat in most elections, a lot of their friends and followers on social media probably align with their views. Because of that their ideas are not being challenged, onl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog #3: Current Event

Freedom of Speech Being Denied by Police Force While we have seen protestors swarm the streets the country, in small suburbs to big cities, the police have met peaceful protestors with violent forces such as teargas, rubber bullets, and arrests. It is undeniable that destruction was done by looters and rioters as well, but when people peacefully protesting are being stripped aware of their First Amendment rights, more anger began to stir in these communities. Peacefully protesting is protected by the First Amendment in the following lines: "abridging the freedom of speech...or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." In this scenario, protestors are having their voices heard; they are doing so peaceful. And they are asking for change within our police and law enforcement systems after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. This specific  article  gives light to a situation that took place...
1 comment
Read more