Happy 4th of July...?

Hello lovelies~

Independence Day is upon us again, the time of year here in North America where we celebrate the official forming of the United States as we know them today. This holiday is especially sacred in the southernmost states of my country; you can't so much as turn a corner or blink in any general direction without seeing the red, white, and blue stripes of our national flag. It's a time of patriotism, of celebration, and of pride in our country and all that it has accomplished.

At least, that's what the zeitgeist is selling us on each year.

But speaking as a queer American woman in the 2020's, for my part I'm finding it harder and harder to celebrate or to even get excited for this holiday. Especially as someone living in the beating heart of GA, and seeing all that's been going wrong lately from police brutality to political upheaval, I must pose an honest question to my dear readers: what is there to celebrate anymore?

This country has come such a long way from being just a handful of colonies in the new world, but ask any Native American and they'll tell you that the groundwork for imperialism was already well and truly laid down from the word "go". The soil we sleep on was taken by force from the people that came here first, and the atrocities committed against them need no introduction. Cut to a few hundred years later and the only thing that's changed is the calendar date; name any third-world country, for instance, and it's more than likely the United States has tried at least once to exploit its people in the name of corporate greed, just as they did long ago when they discovered gold in the sacred Black Hills. Though nowadays they've traded solid gold for black gold, the methods employed by our ruling class are no less insidious or cruel than they were way back then.

Discrimination against minorities has also posed a consistent issue in my country, also since the beginning. And while I'm certainly not qualified to talk about the history of race relations within the United States, as a transgender person I want to take this opportunity to voice my concerns for queer America going forward. Anti-trans legislation is a stone's throw away from becoming a national sport with how often elected officials keep tossing bills around, all meant to put a stranglehold on one of the smallest minority groups in the country. Florida is the most prominent example of this, as under the leadership of Ron DeSantis, the state has become a war zone for any and all transgender people who are unfortunate enough to be stuck there. Tennessee is a close second, thanks to its recent anti-crossdressing bill and all the harm that has come with it. And with DeSantis now seeking to run for president, the future is looking more grim and uncertain than ever before, and I've gotta be honest with you, dear readers: I'm very frightened.

And that's not even the half of it! With Roe v Wade being recently overturned and select states in this country even going so far as to start re-enforcing Jim Crow laws, now more than ever it feels like America is going backwards in ways that shouldn't even be conceivable in the 21st century. Poverty rates are skyrocketing, inflation is out of control, all while the federal minimum wage of $7.25 hasn't budged in years. Capitalism is strangling the American people while the bourgeoise mocks the proletarian for working themselves to death and having nothing to show for it. "Work harder", "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", they say as they light their cigars with hundred-dollar bills that the American laborer will never have.

All of this is to say: what is there to celebrate anymore? For me, there's absolutely nothing to celebrate today. Those people that are, all decked out in their American flag regalia and shooting off fireworks all throughout the month of July, are - in my experience - part of the problem. Especially in the wake of the Trump presidency and all the misery that he and his supporters have caused over the years, whenever I see that flag and especially someone wearing iconography associated with it, I get nervous. To me, and doubtless many other people right now, the red, white, and blue no longer stands for freedom, liberty, and justice, but rather oppression, privilege, and imperialism. And so this will be one nation under the dollar, with liberty and justice for none.

Happy 4th, everybody! 😀