‘The Fourth of July Should Be A Day of Resistance’

Across the country this weekend, many will be celebrating the 250th birthday of America. The Fourth of July is traditionally celebrated with fireworks, barbecues, and unabashed patriotism. But for many, it serves as a stark reminder of the wide chasm between America’s founding ideals and its historical and ongoing realities.

​When Thomas Jefferson penned that “all men (people) are created equal” in 1776, he did so as an enslaver, anchoring the nation’s birth in an ongoing experiment of contradiction. Black people, Indigenous people, women, and marginalized people were excluded from the very freedoms that were being celebrated.

​For Bishop William J. Barber II, Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, the Fourth of July should be a “day of resistance” against the current political climate.

​“This Fourth of July, I believe, like Frederick Douglass, should be a time of reflection, repentance, and resistance to what we see going on,” Barber told The Root. “We see our government in too many ways not committed to establishing justice, but disestablishing justice. It’s not committed to equal protection of the law, but seems to be more committed to protection for those who want to violate democracy and rights.”

RELATED: Rev. Barber: ‘Christian Nationalism’ Has Infiltrated the Black Church

​According to Barber, this Independence Day is ripe for the launching of what he describes as a “Third Reconstruction.”

​“This Fourth of July ought to be a time where we repent, resist, and make a commitment to stop the erosion of the gains of the ‘Second Reconstruction,’ and begin the massive push for a ‘Third Reconstruction’ in this nation because we have seen too much of our fundamental values being rolled over,” he argued.

​“When I say justice, I mean voting rights even beyond what we had, full universal health care, a full commitment to the abolition of poverty, an end to wars of choice, full commitment to welcoming immigrants in this nation, rather than pushing them away, and a full commitment to the hopes and the dreams and possibilities that are laid out in our constitution,” Barber continued. “That must be our rallying cry now.”

​To bridge this gap between historical promise and modern reality,  Barber hopes this Fourth of July will be a launching pad to challenge politicians to move past performative patriotism and commit to systemic justice.

​“We should challenge every politician from July 4 forward, and every clergy person ought to be making clear what we’re fighting for, and make a commitment to the next 20 years,” Barber explained. “Because what we know is that the things we see happening now with MAGA have been 25 and 50 years in the making. It didn’t just happen, and we need that same commitment to justice.”

​Barber asserts that for America to truly live up to its founding ideals this Fourth of July, progressive, forward-thinking citizens must commit to the long-term struggle of forging a more equal society.

​“We must work for at least the next 20 years, because the persons that are undermining the presence of our government now, they are not thinking in terms of just one election,” said Barber. “They are thinking in terms of the next 50 to 100 years, and we have to, on this Fourth of July, realize what’s going on and counter it with a deep resistance and a call for a “Third Reconstruction.”