Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: A Different Perspective of the 4th of July

Those of us who are not Native or Black or part of those who experience the 4th of July differently than the familiar cultural stories most of us are taught need to grow in mindfulness of a larger picture. Until we do, we will not be learning these essential lessons or connecting with caring and consciousness of our fellow human beings. We are all related. May we remember what we have forgotten. Another world is possible. - Molly

US history, as well as inherited Indigenous trauma, cannot be understood without dealing with the genocide that the United States committed against Indigenous peoples. From the colonial period through the founding of the United States and continuing in the twenty-first century, this has entailed torture, terror, sexual abuse, massacres, systematic military occupations, removals of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories, and removals of Indigenous children to military-like boarding schools. The absence of even the slightest note of regret or tragedy in the annual celebration of the US independence betrays a deep disconnect in the consciousness of US Americans.

― Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz,  

From An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States