Today we are celebrating our country’s freedom! Freedom means many things, and most importantly it means each person has a right to live, love, laugh and pray
the way he or she chooses. I am grateful I live in this country, rather than in any of the war torn countries around the world. The United States has its faults,
and because I feel free, living here, I have the right to speak up when I see something wrong or actions hurting and/or harming another being. I do not have to
worry about police arresting me because I spoke against any actions our government takes. We are free to speak, use our words and write our opinions.

Freedom comes with choice and choice comes with consequences. Our laws are set up to protect the vulnerable. If we choose to hurt another person physically our
consequence may be jail. If we hurt someone verbally, the consequence may be a loss of friendship or the karma of being hurt by words from another person.

Sometimes, a person’s freedom is falsely interrupted due to hate and prejudice.
We hear of racial profiling. We hear about graffiti on churches, mosques, temples, synagogues. We hear of shootings due to hate and prejudice. T
hese actions must be stopped and those committing atrocities against another human must have his or her freedom revoked!

The Declaration of Independence was originally only meant for white people. In 1776, although we were free from British control, black and brown slaves were
not free from the early white American’s control. On July 5th, 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave a significant keynote address at an event in Rochester,
New York. In his speech, Douglass also challenged the hypocrisy of Independence Day by asking “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer;
a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

From the Perspective of Black Americans

“The Declaration of Independence is probably the most hypocritical document,” said Dr. Rick Warren, President and Founder of the Black Expo
and RW Media Enterprises. “At one point, they’re declaring freedom and, at another point, they’re enslaving people. It’s an interesting dichotomy.
So many Black people in America have always had an interesting view on the Fourth of July. In our culture, it’s become one of those holidays used more
as a family get together. It’s an opportunity for us to come together rather than a celebration of freedom.”

“The Fourth of July is a national holiday to celebrate this country’s freedom from Britain,” said Rory Kaufman, Chair of the Black American Political Association
of California, Sacramento Chapter. “But, Black people were never free or equal. We were still Three-Fifths in the Constitution of the United States. We were not
considered whole.”
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/community/race-and-culture/what-is-the-fourth-of-july-to-black-americans/103-ef8477c0-66e1-44ad-b82f-1a470cc85b87

Although this may not be enough to compensate for the cruelty done to African Americans, the USA has declared Juneteenth a federal holiday because
on June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free. A century and a half later, people across the United States continue
to celebrate the day as Black Americans Independence Day.

From the Original People’s perspective.

“In the 1880s, the U.S. government developed what has come to be called the
Religious Crimes Code—regulations at the heart of the federal Office of Indian Affairs’ Code of Indian Offenses that prohibited American Indian ceremonial life.
Enforced on reservations, the code banned Indian dances and feasts, disrupted religious practices, and destroyed or confiscated sacred objects, under threat of
imprisonment and the withholding of treaty rations.
The Secretary of the Interior issued the regulations in 1884, 1894, and 1904, and Indian superintendents and agents implemented them until the mid-1930s. For
50 years, Indian spiritual ceremonies were held in secret or ceased to exist.”

“In response to this policy of cultural and religious suppression, some tribes saw in the 4th of July and the commemoration of American independence a chance
to continue their own important ceremonies. Indian superintendents and agents justified allowing reservations to conduct ceremonies on the 4th as way for Indians
to learn patriotism to the United States and to celebrate the country’s ideals.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-american-indian/2020/07/01/do-american-indians-celebrate-4th-july/

Our United States of America has come along way and has a long way to go before ALL people are free of hate, prejudice and ill will towards black and brown people, immigrants, refugees, Asians, Native Americans, people of different religions, the LGTBQ+ community and any other group that “appears” different. For in reality we are ALL different and unique in our own way. Our spiritual journey is to REALIZE our ONENESS, CELEBRATE our UNIQUENESS and UNDERSTAND our CONNECTEDNESS in and as the WEB of GOD.

In Oneness, Abgail and Steve