250
“The worst people you will ever meet call themselves a ‘patriot’ and ‘Christian’.”
As we have passed America’s 250th birthday, I have some thoughts. What else is new, right?
I started thinking about the novelty, the merch, the various displays of American flags and how they don’t really make me feel anything. If anything, America’s 250th birthday is more of a wake than a celebration as we get further away from what the country says it is in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
In the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers of this nation stated it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that these rights are bestowed upon every American. The “Originalists” argue that these rights were not to be afforded to anyone non-white, as Black people in the South were considered property. That would be incorrect considering many of the founding fathers acknowledged that slavery was antithetical to the ideal of liberty they were pushing and central theme of the American Revolution. The issue? The immorality of slavery was secondary to preventing division, property rights and limited government. Hence, the Three-Fifths Compromise in the Constitution: counting three out of every five slaves for apportionment of representation in The House of Representatives. For those new to how the government works in the United States: There’s a bicameral legislature (the House of Representatives and the Senate); There’s two Senators for every state in the Union and the number of House representatives for a state/number of districts is dependent upon population. The South didn’t want their representation to be determined solely on their free population as the North originally proposed. You have to count the slaves who are without rights, for the slave owners’ benefits. Southern states were overrepresented in national politics but that also came with a heavy tax burden; Population was used to determine how much states paid in federal taxes to the government. African Americans were still enslaved until almost 80 years after the ratifying of these documents where “all men are created equal”, but Thomas Jefferson’s appeal to the immorality of slavery while owning slaves himself was conveniently omitted.
But let’s fast forward to Present Day America. Republicans claim we live in a post-racial society where “I don’t see color” or “I have a Black friend” passes as an excuse to ignore and whitewash the racist history of the country. They’re saying race doesn’t matter while continuing to say and do racist things like pass voter suppression bills in GOP controlled state legislatures, ban books by Black authors that discuss race and trauma like Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, etc., and continue to push that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to address systemic racism is somehow oppressive to white men. Andrea Lucas, the Trump-appointed Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is going as far as to encourage white men to file discrimination complaints.
This system was created by design to benefit white males by white males in powdered wigs. How does designing policies to try to ensure others such as women and people of color have representation, make white men “oppressed”? I guess when you’re used to having 100%, 98% can feel like “oppression”? Fortune Magazine writer Richie Zweigenhaft noted that before the civil rights era and DEI efforts, corporate boardrooms have been largely white and male dominated. In 2024, white men held 48.4% of corporate boardroom positions. In 2025, the number showed an uptick at 49.7%. The representation of white women dropped from 25% to 24.5% in the same span of time. For Black people? It decreased from 15% to 14.2%. Hispanics with boardroom positions decreased from 6.1% to 5.9%. Asian representation rose slightly from 5.6% to 5.7%. Bottom line: Even though white men’s representation was below 50% three years in a row, they represent 31% of the population. Er go, they are overrepresented in boardrooms across Fortune 500 companies. Oppressed, where? Surely not in corporate America.
Of course, politics plays a part in the drop in diversity. Enter Bill Pulte — Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now Acting Director of National Intelligence. It’s worth noting that he’s not qualified for any of these positions like everyone else in this administration. He’s just white, male and willing to do the task of firing qualified minorities to hire more unqualified folks that look like him. Coincidentally, Pulte is a Trump donor. Nothing to see here, right? Right after being appointed, he got rid of some women directors, Black directors and an Asian director at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those moves increased the white male board representation from 40% in 2024 to 65% in 2025. As notated in the Fortune article, some minorities are permitted but only those sufficiently loyal and self-hating. Before, I forget: Pulte is also firing intelligence officials while we are in a war with Iran that Trump illegally started without the approval of Congress. But he’s not there to make good decisions on behalf of the country. I’ll link the article below as usual for further reading because I have other people to call to the carpet.
Pete Hegseth — bring your baby deer legged, no upper body strength having ass down here. Mr. “Diversity is not our strength” and scrubbing the Medal of Honor webpages of Black recipients labeling them “DEI medal” in the 404-page URL, you need to have several seats. I’m telling you as a Black woman that comes from a family with an extensive military background, that you can choke on that steak and lobster you fly in while the VA workforce is being cut. You’re done with “identity months” that “cause division”? The only thing you’re saying is that people celebrating their non-white identities and their history makes you uncomfortable even though it’s part of the American story.
My grandfather served as a boiler tech in the U.S. Navy. When he retired— he earned his GED, associate's degree from a junior college, and his bachelor’s degree in Sociology from SDSU.
I got my eyelashes from him.
As I was saying, I come from a family with an extensive military background. My grandfather and some of my great-uncles from the segregated South served in the military: Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army. My father is a veteran. My stepfather is a veteran. But let Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration tell it: Nobody contributes but Caucasians. The history they’re trying so desperately to rewrite shows a different reality.
I made a slideshow to go with this story on the contributions of African Americans in the military. If you follow me on my writing Instagram page, you’ve seen it. If you haven’t or don’t follow me, check it out. Also, why aren’t you following me? Get your life together.
African Americans have served this country militarily since the American Revolution, the war for America’s independence from Great Britain. The first known casualty of the American Revolution was Crispus Attucks, a Black man. That’s right. Black people were fighting for the independence of the colonies from Britain when they weren’t free themselves. Some fought for the British side as well; it just depended upon who offered the best freedom special. As I stated earlier in this post, when the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were ratified, it was understood that it wasn’t meant for Black people because we were still working plantations, despite the “all men are created equal” part. Were we? Present day, I have to ask: Are we?
As the illustrious James Baldwin said in his 1966 essay, “A Report from Occupied Territory”: “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do”.
African Americans fought in the War of 1812, despite the U.S. initially barring Black people from enlisting — they relied on Black manpower on both the American and British side. Black people fought for the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Buffalo Soldiers fought alongside President Theodore Roosevelt’s Roughriders in the Spanish-American War of 1898. I can’t help but notice, they included white men dressed like “Roughriders”, but no Black men dressed like Buffalo Soldiers during the Freedom 250 celebration of Trump, I mean “America”. You had the Harlem Hellfighters in World War 1, the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, etc. Matter of fact, one of my great-uncles is known for his exhibits honoring the Tuskegee Airman aka “Red Tails”. His artwork has been featured not only in storefronts in my family’s native Mississippi, but in the Smithsonian and at the Pentagon. Yes, the friggin’ Pentagon where that weak ass jar of mayonnaise Pete Hegseth works. I’ll link an article or two below where you can read more about my great-uncle’s work. He wasn’t the greatest person, but he did some cool shit.
Now, I’ll address the white women who voted for Trump and think that women shouldn’t have the right to vote or their own checking accounts/credit cards. Come on down, you ungrateful heifers. I’ll start by asking you: Don’t you think it’s weird that you follow tradwife influencers that tell you not to have your own career, while they’re being paid to tell you not to have your own money? They’re getting paid to subjugate you to the patriarchy. They’re getting paid to tell you that you should trap yourself into a marriage with no way out and your worth is in having “more babies than you can afford”. They’re getting paid to tell you that the right to vote, which Black women helped white women fight for when they were not afforded that right until 45 years after the 19th amendment was ratified, is not worth having.
I know, history K-12 tells us that Susan B. Anthony is the face of the women’s suffrage movement — but Black women were there and did a lot of the heavy lifting. We just couldn’t be faces of the movement because, you know, racism. Again, this is the history they’re trying so desperately to hide by attacking the Smithsonian and having the National Park Service remove certain plaques.
“You cannot be neutral. You must either join with us who believe in the bright future or be destroyed by those who would return us to the dark past.”
And that is precisely what’s happening. Some white women chose not to cast a ballot in 2024 because “BoTh pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe” or whatever nonsense that comes from a place of privilege of not having to care for the most part. 52% of white women chose to send us all backwards, because of proximity to the white male patriarchy. They’re under the impression that white privilege will protect them from awful treatment while being barefoot, pregnant and subservient without any freedom of choice. Access to education and voting rights is what gave you the freedoms, you have today. But you used that right to send us all back to the dark ages, because you follow the Ballerina Farm on Instagram and the aesthetic of prancing around in a prairie dress all day seems like the dream?
First off, if you wish to be subservient milking cows on your homestead, popping out kid after kid and cleaning up after your husband, letting him control your finances — that’s a personal choice. You shouldn’t try to vote the rest of us into that bullshit with you. Those kinds of relationships tend to be abusive, emotionally and physically. Oh, and no-fault divorce? They voted to end that too because they would not read Project 2025 and the government has implemented half of it already. Our Vice President and author of the foreword for Project 2025, JD Vance said “This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so, getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term’". Additionally, he said you need to stay together for the kids even if the marriage is violent and volatile because somehow leaving a dysfunctional situation makes children unhappy? Allow me to be pragmatic here — According to a government site for the Office on Women’s Health from Health and Human Services, children that are witnesses to domestic violence are more prone to repeat those cycles in their own relationships and experience mental health issues. Somebody should check on Usha and his kids.
This particularly peeves me as I previously stated because Black women helped right for these rights like we helped fight for the independence of this country while being enslaved. I’ll link the Smithsonian page on five African American suffragists the museum profiled, at the end of this piece for time and attention span.
And now, I’ll turn my attention to the other part of my ancestry. Kendrick Lamar said, “I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA”. I got slavery and Trail of Tears inside my DNA.
My Paw-Paw and my Great Grandmother
My Great Grandfather on my mother’s side is Native American; Cherokee and Choctaw Nation. On my father’s side, there’s Blackfoot ancestry according to my aunt.
People say that I favor my Paw-Paw. Must be the cheekbones and moles.
There are statements that people like our potato-faced, beardo Vice President JD Vance make regarding the Indigenous that really make my left ass cheek itch. Aside from asserting that Christopher Columbus discovered America (He landed in the Bahamas) and is some kind of hero (He’s not) — but Vance insinuated that “Christian settlers ended child sacrifices” when they came to the “new world” during remarks at a Turning Point USA event in October 2025. There is archaeological evidence of this in South American cultures or Mayan and Aztec culture — there isn’t any when it comes to North American indigenous populations. You know? Like the ones my Paw-Paw was from?
Also, settlers? Try colonizers. Or better yet, try land thieves and murderers. They say Europeans were settlers as if no one was inhabiting this land when they got off of the Mayflower.
Indigenous: Originating or occurring naturally in a specific place. (Merriam-Webster)
I’d like to address the “Defend your homeland” nonsense coming from this administration. 1) That’s White-Nationalist bullshit and 2) Your homeland is across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s always pissed me off as someone of Native American descent, to hear someone of European descent say to me, “Go back to your country”. Ancestors, why did y’all even let them off of their ships?
These so-called settlers brought diseases such as smallpox, measles, influenza, whooping cough, bubonic plague, malaria, typhus, chickenpox and diphtheria. Hey, Greenland — if RFK Jr. sends any medical ships, don’t trust those blankets. They probably have measles on them. If they give you any lettuce, do not eat it — you’ll get explosive diarrhea. I’m about to give up lettuce myself because the mediocre white people fired all of the career employees at the Food and Drug Administration causing us to deal with more food borne illnesses. It’s almost like racists are stupid or something. I can guarantee it was everybody they labeled “DEI” but were more competent than who they were left with.
I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m very tired of racists ruining literally fucking everything in the United States. Was it perfect? No. But damn, it wasn’t this bad. But because people who look different from them are being terrorized by ICE, they’re ok with the country being torn to shreds and becoming a failed state.
The worst part about these crackdowns? Native Americans are getting caught up in Stephen Miller’s mass deportation plans. Yes, the Nazi of Belarusian descent has been getting Native Americans harassed by ICE. There have been reports out of the Navajo Nation of ICE trying to detain them and telling them their tribal IDs are “fake”. So, it’s quite apparent that when they say someone is illegal — they mean “non-white”.
Additionally, I’m tired of hearing “My ancestors came from Sweden the right way”. Man, listen — your ancestors came over when it didn’t take tens of thousands in legal fees, almost 10 years of residency and a 100+-question exam on US history and civics that most Americans born here would fail to become a citizen. All they had to do was arrive and buy a plot of land. If this is about legal immigration, why is ICE kidnapping people at their immigration check-ins/hearings? Why is DHS taking away Temporary Protected Status for those claiming asylum, which is legal? Why is USCIS cancelling citizenship ceremonies for people who have met these requirements? Because it’s about racism. Plain and simple. Well — it’s also about the fact that Republicans have been stoking the fears of immigrants so much that they know once these people become citizens, they would never vote for them.
We are a week or two removed from the conclusion of the 16-day humiliation fest that was the “Great American State Fair” with stale food, melted ice cream, electrical issues on the Ferris wheel, empty state booths and even emptier grass. Even Fox News couldn’t hide the unpopularity, even though they kind of tried. But don’t worry. If you missed the Great American State Fair, there’s another humiliation ritual you can attend soon: The Freedom 250 Grand Prix on the National Mall, August 22-23. It’s a free event, but it’s still too expensive. Oh, and the White House is advertising it using AI. Nothing says this is an event worth attending like using AI to promote it, like they do everything else. The White House X account just posts memes and AI slop like it’s 4Chan. Sigh.
Bottom line: I don’t feel like I have anything to celebrate. The United States is regressing. Its original sin is killing it. And you want me, a Black person to feel a sense of pride? To speak in the vernacular of my people: “You have lost your rabid ass mind!”.
I can’t feel the same as my white counterparts when I see the flag or even hear the National Anthem, especially in this moment in time. I’ll let my man Frederick Douglass take it home with an excerpt from “What to the Slave is the 4th of July”:
“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. . . . I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism a sham, your humanity a base pretense, and your Christianity a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. Oh! Be warned! Be warned! A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation’s bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever! . .”
As my boyfriend and I walked the streets of Downtown San Diego to the B Street Pier for the fireworks display — I started thinking about how all of the people walking down there represented what America looks like. We are all different ethnicities, political party affiliations but in that moment the fireworks brought us together on the waterfront in America’s finest city. As we oohed and awed over the flashing lights and colors, I said to myself: “It’s too bad that we will all go back to hating each other tomorrow”.
Links
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Links 〰️
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (1852) | Constitution Center
Britannica Editors. "Three-fifths compromise". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/three-fifths-compromise. Accessed 30 July 2026.
“Five You Should Know: African American Suffragists.” National Museum of African American History and Culture, https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/five-you-should-know-african-american-suffragists. Accessed 30 July 2026.
Ballou, Howard. “Hattiesburg Man Preserves Tuskegee Airmen History through Artwork and Speeches.” Https://Www.Wlbt.Com, WLBT, 8 Feb. 2018, https://www.wlbt.com/story/37454452/hattiesburg-man-preserves-tuskegee-airmen-history-through-artwork-and-speeches/. Accessed 30 July 2026.
“Who Are the Buffalo Soldiers? – Buffalo Soldiers National Museum.” Buffalosoldiersmuseum.Org, https://buffalosoldiersmuseum.org/the-buffalo-soldiers/. Accessed 30 July 2026.
Stewart, Phil. “Pentagon’s Hegseth: ‘Diversity Is Our Strength’ Is Dumbest Phrase in Military History.” Reuters, 7 Feb. 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagons-hegseth-diversity-is-our-strength-is-dumbest-phrase-military-history-2025-02-07/. Accessed 30 July 2026.
Joseph, C. (2022). JD Vance Suggests People in ‘Violent’ Marriages Shouldn’t Get Divorced. In VICE. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/jd-vance-suggests-people-in-violent-marriages-shouldnt-get-divorced/
Britannica Editors. "Declaration of Independence". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Jul. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-Independence. Accessed 30 July 2026.
National Park Service. (2023). What Happened on the Trail of Tears? - Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service). In Nps.gov. https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/what-happened-on-the-trail-of-tears.htm