Freedom has been historically delayed and exploited, while it was legally and violently reversed.
1In June 2025, former President Donald Trump stood at a campaign rally and referred to Black Americans as “the babies of slaves.” The comment was not just offensive—it was revealing. It showed, in plain language, that for some, Black Americans remain frozen in the past. There are people from various cultures, including Black Americans, that do not see us as human beings with a rich history, but as offspring of bondage. Slave. A throwaway phrase for him—yet another reopened wound for us.
Trump’s statement is an echo, it affirms what many of us already know: this country never fully moved on from the slavery period because it never truly atoned for it. In fact, we are still asked to celebrate freedom in a country that has never fully celebrated ours.
So we ask: What exactly are we celebrating?
July 4th, 1776 is lauded as the day America claimed independence from Britain. But when the fireworks burst and the flags wave, there’s a missing footnote: half a million Black people remained enslaved that summer, with no declaration, no rights, no freedom. Eleven years later, in 1787, the U.S. Constitution affirmed that Black people were to be counted as three-fifths of a person—a clause designed to strengthen the political power of slave states without acknowledging our humanity.
That clause has never been fully repealed—only rendered obsolete by later amendments. And those amendments came slowly, reluctantly, and under intense pressure.
On June 19, 1865—Juneteenth—freedom finally arrived for those still enslaved in Texas. But freedom was late, and even when it came, it was fragile. The 13th Amendment, ratified months later, abolished slavery except as punishment for a crime. That loophole became the foundation for convict leasing, mass incarceration, and what we now call the prison-industrial complex.
The 14th Amendment, passed in 1868, promised “equal protection,” but that didn’t stop states from enacting Black Codes—laws that criminalized Black life, from vagrancy to speaking too loudly. Reconstruction sparked hope, but it was quickly drowned by white violence, voter suppression, and the Supreme Court’s own sabotage, such as the 1883 Civil Rights Cases and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which legalized segregation for another 60 years.
We were legally free—but economically excluded. Socially terrorized. Psychologically under siege.
So again: What are WE celebrating? And who profits from this illusion of freedom?
Today, the Fourth of July is a $9.5 billion dollar industry. Retailers, corporations, and municipalities cash in on fireworks, beer, meat, and merchandise. But those profits rarely circle back into Black communities still suffering from redlining, environmental racism, and generational wealth gaps. Similarly, Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, has been turned into another marketing campaign—without the economic repair or historical education that makes real freedom possible.
And all the while, the psychological toll continues. According to the American Psychological Association, Black adults are 20% more likely to suffer serious mental health conditions, often untreated due to stigma, access, and generational trauma. Dr. Arline Geronimus calls it weathering—the premature aging of Black bodies under constant racial stress. So what does freedom look like when it feels like survival?
Maybe this is why Trump’s careless words cut so deeply. They are not merely about language—they’re about legacy. About how we are still framed. Still reduced. Still fighting.
So this year, before lighting your sparkler or sharing a post with flag emojis, stop and ask:
Who is free? Who got left behind? Who paid for this “freedom,” and who is still paying for it?
Because in America, freedom has been sold, delayed, denied, and rewritten. And every year, we’re told to clap for it anyway.
But this year, we ask the question out loud—not to divide, but to confront the truth. No matter your color or culture:
What are you celebrating?
