I come to you today frustrated, hurt, disappointed, a bit in rage, if I am honest. Yesterday, was the 4th of July in the United States a celebration of this great nation's independence against tyranny and oppression of their day. My tension is that for me, I just wasn't in a space of celebration or reverence. Instead I was in a bit of a space of mourning, which became ever more evident by the conflicting posts in my social media timelines.
This Independence Day was hard to celebrate in light of migrant camps where people are dying due to terrible conditions within them. It was hard to celebrate seeing stories of Black Israelis protesting the shooting of a Black teen by an off-duty cop and other rising experiences of police brutality against Black men in Israel, does this sound familiar? It was hard to celebrate with the backdrop of social media timeline arguments of individuals noting what is "American" and what is not "American."
And then this morning, I wake up and scroll my news feed to see an article noting that Sen. Ted Cruz responded to a post by Colin Kaepernick regarding Frederick Douglass speech- 'What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?' The title of the article "Cruz adds 'context' after Colin Kaepernick quotes Frederick Douglass 'Fourth of July' Speech."
On the Fourth of July, 2019, Colin Kaepernick quotes an excerpt of Frederick Douglass' famed speech with a video that interweaves historical accounts of slavery and also current experiences of Black men in the U.S. and police brutality. The excerpt (images screenshot from FoxNews Article linked above)
Cruz's responses are as follows (images screenshot from FoxNews Article linked above):
What is so frustrating is something I noted a while back from a Bill Burr comedic set where Burr, on the topic of Colin Kaepernick and his choice to kneel for the flag, "Are you going to argue with another person's experience?"
Mr. Cruz, you are correct, context does matter, but Kaepernick's quote was and is not out of context towards the experiences still faced by Americans today. Furthermore to purport that Kaepernick is un-American is outrageous and insensitive, especially in the context of the statement that you made. Because in it, you dismiss what Kaepernick is kneeling against. Don't mute our experience. If I were to help you out, "Kapernick is not anti-American; he is rightly and passionately, anti-police brutality, injustice and inequality."
I agree with Mr. Cruz that everyone should in fact read Frederick Douglass' speech, What to the slave is the Fourth of July? it's important in the history AND present of this country. When the vestiges of what Douglass was criticizing still have strongholds to this day.
If I am honest, I am not even angry with Mr. Cruz, well, partially, because his privilege and the state of our country made him feel he had the right to argue with someone else's experiences. Instead of actually hearing or seeing Mr. Kaepernick for what he has been relentlessly and with great cost been highlighting, Mr. Cruz took it upon himself to step in. What is discouraging are the stories that Mr. Kaepernick was schooled- the truth is, if that's what we are taking away from this then we all lose, because yet again, we are not seeing someone else's experiences. Until we can take a moment to really see each other we are never going to truly figure out a way to work forward.
Colin, thank you for your voice, for it is American.
