As America prepares
for July Fourth, blacks, Latinos and other minorities are questioning their place in the nation in the aftermath of Trump, police shootings and stepped-up detentions of immigrants.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As many in the United States celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, some minorities have mixed feelings about the revelry of fireworks and parades in an atmosphere of tension on several fronts.
How do you celebrate during what some people of color consider troubling times?
African-Americans, Latinos and immigrant rights advocates say they’re questioning equality and the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the United States in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, recent non-convictions of police officers charged in the shootings of black men and stepped-up detentions of immigrants and refugees for deportation.
Filmmaker Chris Phillips of Ferguson, Mo., says he likely will attend a family barbecue just like every Fourth of July. But the 36-year-old black man says he can’t help but feel perplexed about honoring the birth of the nation after three officers were recently cleared in police shootings.
Since the 2014 police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., officer shootings — of black males in particular — have drawn scrutiny, sparking protests nationwide.
“Justice apparently doesn’t apply to all people,” said Phillips, who saw the protests that roiled his town after Brown’s death. His yet-unreleased documentary “Ferguson 365” focuses on the Brown shooting and its aftermath. “A lot of people have lost hope.”
Unlike Phillips, Janette McClelland, 65, a black musician in Albuquerque, N.M., said she has no intention of celebrating. “It’s a white man’s holiday to me. It’s just another day,” McClelland said.
Some U.S. immigrants also say they’re hesitant to celebrate.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up enforcement and instituted a scaled-back partial travel ban that places new limits on entry to the U.S. for citizens of six Muslim-majority countries. On Friday, the administration announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would arrest people, including relatives, who hire smugglers to bring children into the U.S. illegally.
Patricia Montes, a Boston resident and immigrant from Honduras, said she’s grateful for the opportunities and security the United States has given her. Yet this year, she doesn’t know how to approach the Fourth of July holiday.
“I fell very conflicted,” said Montes, an immigrant advocate. “I mean, what are we celebrating? Are we celebrating democracy?”
Ruth Hopkins, a member of South Dakota’s Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe, said Native Americans have always viewed the Fourth of July with ambivalence. Yet they find reason to celebrate. “A lot of people up here use fireworks and the holiday to celebrate victory over Custer for Victory Day,” said Hopkins, referring to the defeat of George Custer and his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Still, the holiday comes after tribes and others gathered in North Dakota to support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its fight against the Dakota Access pipeline, Hopkins said. Because of that, water and land rights remain on peoples’ mind, Hopkins said.