These US Cities Replaced July 4 Fireworks With Environmentally Friendly Drones. Tabs, Tues., July 4, 2023
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Felt like sharing this Juneteenth piece from John-John Williams IV. (The Baltimore Banner)
“Juneteenth is our primary celebration. We didn’t do anything for July Fourth. We don’t really have plans for July Fourth anymore,” [Malcolm] Ruff said.
“It’s not that we intentionally do not celebrate it. We have our own celebration now,” Ruff continued. “American freedom has not been the story of Black freedom. Even after we became free of the tyranny of the British, we still didn’t have freedom. It’s taking ownership of our freedom. It’s a more poignant and a personal celebration than the Fourth of July.”
Are we losing a sense of shared culture as Americans? We (Gen-X) all used to know the theme song to “The Brady Bunch.” (The Nation)
Conservative student at University of Chicago got up in his feelings over a class called "The Problem of Whiteness" and tweeted the lecturer's photo and email address. Academic freedom! (New York Times)
Black women led armies, fought behind enemy lines, and otherwise kicked ass during the Civil War, as they battled for true independence. (Washington Post)
Natalie Moore’s 2020 piece about the Fourth of July is worth a reread (or first read). (NPR)
I usually read and listen to a lot of Malcolm X on this so-called Independence Day. So should you.
Civil rights activist and critical race theory scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw discusses the ongoing right-wing push to erase Black history and eliminate true diversity. (Essence)
Janet Jackson released her self-titled albumJanetin May of 1993 but July was when the single “If” dropped. It was everywhere, and amped up the funkiness with a Supremes sample. (Entertainment Weekly)
Portland Trailblazers star Damian Lillard is leaving PDX for possibly Miami. He didn’t heed the NAACP’s travel advisory. (The Athletic)
Clarence Thomas experienced vicious racism firsthand when at Yale but somehow the problem was affirmative action not, you know, racists. (The Guardian)
The MCU’s Nick Fury has always been Black. He’s played by bad motherfucker Samuel L. Jackson, after all, but the “Secret Invasion” series on Disney+ addresses his race and the challenges he’s faced head on. (The Root)
There’s a common theory that Barack Obama’s election radicalized a significant segment of the white population in the US, but this implies that racism wasn’t always simmering underneath the surface. History suggests otherwise. Black excellence has always inspired white violence. (The Daily Beast)
Go make yourself a cold drink. There’ll be one more post later today.
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