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From The Hill District to the Point: A Radical Review of Pittsburgh's 4th of July
by Danny P
Monday, Jul. 05, 2004 at 8:25 PM
dannyp@indypgh.org
Compares and contrasts two fourth of July events that occurred in the City of Pittsburgh, the "What Does The Fourth of July Mean to You?" event in the Hill District and Three Rivers Regatta's 4th of July Celebration.
Having spent the early afternoon greeting Vice President Cheney, I headed over to Freedom Corner in the Hill District to see the "What Does The Fourth of July Mean To You?" event I learned about from the IMC's calendar.
The event's highlight was a speech by a man impersonating Fredrick Douglas. He read portions of a speech entitled "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" by Fredrick Douglas. Other speakers included several spoken word artists, who delivered poetry about issues confronting Pittsburgh's oppressed communities, and the nature of oppression and human spirit in general.
There were political speakers as well. There were representatives of the Pittsburgh campaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal present, who read portions of Mumia's writings that recounted the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention of 1970, a gathering of progressive social groups to see if they could help put together a new democratic society within the framework of the faux democratic society that had resulted in so much oppression. Renee Wilson of PAPV spoke of children being killed here in Pittsburgh, PA, and encouraged the crowd to send letters to DA Zappala.
As the sun beat down upon us, there was water available and even food and cake were available to those who wanted some. The crowd was diverse, with people of all backgrounds coming together to learn about how while white men became independent from the British, others living in what's now America were still enslaved or would soon lose their land to the American colonial enterprise. The feeling of solidarity was strong, indeed. One man spoke to the crowd about Mumia, while wearing a "Free Leonard Peltier" shirt. Later, when it started to rain, the crowd huddled together and spirits were high.
Later that night, I decided to head downtown to see the Pittsburgh 4th of July celebration at the Regatta, in Point State Park. The crowd was thousands of times larger than the earlier crowd I saw at the Hill District. Americans of all backgrounds donned their red white and blue, and nearly everyone (I didn't) stood when the Star Spangled Banner Played. The event reeked of commercialism, with everything being sold for a dollar as kids bought little noisemakers and flashing lights. Older kids would find their comfort in the bottles of beer that could be purchased from the vendors that were peddling their wares all around.
As the fireworks went off, I realized that I had gone to an empty gathering of lights and flashing noises and was surrounded by people who were trying to profit off of this "Independence Day" celebration. There was no debate, there was no discussion, of where this country has gone or what we should do from here. I view civil discourse as the most important thing for a healthy democracy, but that's not what this was. This wasn't the gathering of the American founding fathers on July 4th, 1776 where they would decide on things that would eventually change the course of the world.
No, this was a jingoist gathering where we would reaffirm our status as Americans by all wearing the same colors and enjoy the flashy fireworks. I couldn't help but think of a few things as this fireworks display went off.
When the fireworks were just starting, the sound reminded me of gunshots. I thought about Michael Ellerbe, a 12 year old boy who was killed by Pittsburgh Police, and the DA who isn't interested in getting policemen in trouble for it. I thought of the fact that right now there were American forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere who are firing and being shot at, and exactly whose "interests" the United States foreign policy sent them there to protect.
When the fireworks were most intense, my first memory was that of being a little boy, watching the 4th of July with my family. I felt proud to be a citizen of the United States then, and I crossed my heart and saluted the flag like all other children are told to do on the 4th. But as the fireworks cleared there was a huge plume of smoke being blown away, and I wondered how other children of the world were celebrating the Fourth of July.
I thought of whether the children in Gaza or Fallujah had ever seen fireworks. I know they've seen smoke, as bulldozers destroy their homes or American jets drop bombs on their towns. I know they've seen it because I've seen it in photos; they don't show those photos on CNN all that often, because they're too depressing, but if you look, you will find them. I thought that it would be nice, if only just once, we'd set up a fireworks display for these little children instead of bombing them. Perhaps they've already subconsciously linked the noise of explosions to that of death, perhaps they've already linked the sight of smoke to that of the routine of finding the bombed out bodies. I wondered what the little boy in Gaza or Fallujah had to celebrate on this Fourth of July.
The Fourth of July, to me, should never be referred to as "Independence Day," as too many people of the world are not free. Nor should we celebrate it. We should celebrate those things which we have finished, which we have accomplished, which we can be proud of. If you view the Fourth of July as part of the struggle for human liberation and principles like self-determination, then truly it's not something we can celebrate, yet. For now, it's just something we can learn from. We can learn how to assert our independence and freedom from those who oppress us. Like the founding fathers, we will obtain our rights by asserting them. Thomas Jefferson did not ask King George for permission to become independent. Neither should we.
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