Yes! Independence Day celebrates a proclamation of political liberty for a small minority of white, property-owning men in British colonial North America.

Enslaved people and the descendants of enslaved people were definitively excluded from liberty. They obeyed white men or paid drastic consequences.

All women were also excluded from liberty. They had zero say in consenting to be governed. They did what white men told them to do or else.

People who worked for a living rather than owning property also had a little to zero say in governance. No independence for them. They did what rich white men told them to do or else.

When I sent the Prism & Pen newsletter yesterday, the only mention I made of Independence Day was that LGBTQ people in the United States and around the world are still struggling for freedom and equality.

As our nation finds itself mired in a shocking battle to restrict Black people from voting, a battle reminiscent of the Jim Crow era, speaking of Independence Day as something to celebrate feels perverse.

The combined leadership of the Republican Party is working against every principle of democracy to shore up their minority rule and stop Black people from having a real voice in running this country.

Maybe it’s time for Independence Day to be about taking to the streets in outrage.