T he pledge of allegiance states, “I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Liberty and justice for all is what it declares, but I beg to differ and apparently so did the infamous comedian, Chris Rock. The comedian ‘tweeted’ a comment that was true by historical fact but has since received backlash from many of his counterparts.
Rock tweeted, “Happy White Peoples Independence Day, the slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed fireworks.” You can call it whatever you will or may, I prefer to call it the unadulterated truth though.
It is ironic how ‘they’ want ‘us’ to celebrate ‘their’ freedom, of which we fought and shed blood for to ensure that they would have the right to freedom. Hell we fought harder and lost more people from the Black race than they did of their own.
Perhaps that which was even more heart-wrenching was the fact that the Blacks at that time who did not die in battle were locked right back up and placed back to working in the fields, laboring, cooking, cleaning, etc. for his owner at that time.
We were not even given the opportunity to partake of the freedom that Independence Day entailed for citizens of the United States.
Independence Day for the US was officially declared on July 4, 1776. However, as explained in an editorial presented a couple issues ago entitled, “Were Blacks Ever Really Freed from Slavery?” that declaration did not apply to Blacks at that time.
Primarily because, Blacks were not emancipated until nearly 200 years after America gained its independence. The official pronouncement that Blacks were announced as free was on January 1, 1863, while most of the Southern states did not receive the news until June 19, 1865. This is why I would have to agree with Rock on his tweet.
We must be mindful that this country’s independence and engineering was built off of the backs of Black slaves; who were overworked and never paid. So you ask me if there is “Liberty and Justice for all” my answer will remain the same, it was not on July 4, 1776, nor January 1, 1863 and neither have we arrived in the year of 2012.
