This is EXCELLENT! And worth sharing again. Faisal Khan has been on fire with the depths that he is illuminating in his writing! Thank you, Faisal! And, no, we won’t be celebrating. Grieving, speaking out, fighting for justice and peace, joining in solidarity to illuminate the truth and defend all who are oppressed and targets of unfathomable cruelty and violence — these are indeed the only appropriate and needed responses to the horrors and heartbreaks of our times. — Molly
What exactly are we celebrating today? Are we celebrating the dismantling of our democracy? The criminalization of dissent? The silencing of truth-tellers and whistleblowers? The persecution of mostly black and brown immigrants, Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and anyone who dares to challenge the empire’s narrative?
Are we celebrating the construction of modern-day internment camps? From 1942 to 1945, the U.S. government forcibly removed over 120,000 Japanese Americans, most of them U.S. citizens, from their homes and imprisoned them in desolate camps across the country. They were not charged with any crimes. Their only “offense” was their ancestry.
It was one of the most shameful chapters in American history—an era when fear and racism overpowered the Constitution. Years later, even conservative leaders would admit the truth. President Ronald Reagan, signing the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, called it a “grave injustice.” The federal government issued a formal apology and paid symbolic reparations to survivors. “We must recognize that the internment of Japanese Americans was just that—internment of innocent people, not for what they had done, but for who they were,” Reagan said.
And yet, here we are—again. A sprawling complex of trailers in Florida where migrants, families, and asylum seekers are being caged in the shadows of this so-called “land of the free.” We swore “never again.” And yet, here we are—again.
How dare you fire up your grills and cheer the sparkles in the sky when bombs are raining down on children in Gaza, funded with your tax dollars? How dare you sip your drinks and wave your flags while this nation cages the vulnerable and kneels on the neck of justice—again and again?
What, exactly, are you teaching your children when you wrap them in red, white, and blue and tell them to be proud? Proud of what? A nation founded on stolen land, built by stolen labor, and now sustained by stolen lives—from Rafah to Rikers, from Gaza to the Gulf Coast?
Yes, America promised something. It promised liberty, equality, and justice. But what we have instead is a country where whistleblowers are imprisoned and war criminals walk free. Where billionaires get tax breaks while the poor die without healthcare. Where we fund foreign genocides and build domestic camps—and call ourselves a beacon of democracy.
Today, the Supreme Court is compromised. Congress is broken. Our media is complicit. Our leadership is morally bankrupt. And you want to celebrate that?
You want to set off fireworks in a nation that cuts food stamps while inflating the Pentagon’s blood-soaked budget?
What are we celebrating?
The death of due process?
The rise of fascism in plain sight?
The criminalization of protest?
The surveillance of Muslim and Arab communities and the labeling of peaceful advocacy groups as “terrorists”?
This 4th of July should not be a day of blind celebration. It should be a national moment of mourning, reflection, and reckoning.
Because if you don’t feel uneasy celebrating today. If you don’t feel disturbed by what this country is doing—Then you’ve been lulled to sleep by the machine. And you are now part of it.
I write this not out of hatred for America—but out of love. Love for what it could be. Love for its people—especially the ones forgotten, criminalized, and cast aside. Love for a future where no child is bombed, no immigrant is caged, and no truth is punished.
Until then, I refuse to celebrate myths. I will grieve. I will fight. I will speak. For justice. For peace. For liberty.
Because silence, in times like this, is complicity. And fireworks cannot drown out the screams of the oppressed.
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