What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

So it's kinda cool that i walk out of my apartment building, walk a block north, and see the fireworks they shoot out over the East River here in NYC. I'm a big mark for fireworks, so i think it's neat.

anyway, as fireworks go, they were kind of unspectacular this year. i dunno, i read that it was gonna be the biggest fireworks display EVER, or at least in NYC. Well, it sure didn't seem that way.

anyway, what was entertaining was this drunk old guy who sort of marched through the small mass of people standing in the street watching the fireworks. Mid-step, he yells out "FREEDOM!!!"

When no one reacted, he yelled again, only a tad quieter, and this time in a questioning tone - "Freedom?"

and still, no reaction.

so he basically starts shuffling Tim Conway-style in a small circle, repeating over and over again "Freedomfreedomfreedomfreedom."

That rocked.

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By the way - the song title that makes this blog entry is a track by Ossie Davis on the wonderful collection from Smithsonian Folkways called "Every Tone a Testimony: A Smithsonian Folkways African American Aural History"

I thought the title was appropriate, because i dunno, i'm not digging July 4 like i used to. i mean, don't get me wrong, i'm proud to be an American (although i hate that fucking song), and i think it's a really important holiday for us because it symbolizes a break from oppression (yes yes, for white men, i realize that, but i'm not trying to be all pc and dig too deep here. i'm just talking the basic ideology) and the victory in a struggle for freedom.

but these last two july 4ths have been harder for me, because i feel like our country is doing a great deal of the oppressing these days...not just internally, but externally. we attacked another county - evil despot as a leader of not - we attacked another nation, unprovoked, and we had never done that before.

we're supposed to be the good guys. the super heroes. the ones who come to the rescue when the world is about to be destroyed by Lex Luthor or the Joker or some aliens from another planet.

But lately, i just feel like we're the ones who the true super heroes need to stop from destroying the world.