The True Meaning of Independence

This 4th of July, let's reflect on Juneteenth

Let me start by saying that in my opinion, all people are created equal, and should be treated equally. From the very minute that God told Noah the 9th Commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” we should have viewed each other the same. Despite this commandment, we constantly judge one another and lie to each other. It really seems that this is what we have been doing ever since humankind was first created on this planet. One notion that I find very compelling about this commandment is that it includes everyone, no matter their background or identity. Most of the things that we use to differentiate between one another these days are completely made up; race, gender, and many differences in general only exist because we insist on “othering” each other. Stereotyping can often lead to unnecessary hatred because people assume that they could never have anything in common with people that seem so different. In fact, if we all treated each other equally and were honest, then things like slavery or the holocaust would have never happened in the first place. People create differences, and differences simply would not exist if we didn’t either.

In the Declaration of Independence that was written on July 4th, 1776, the founding fathers wrote “all men are created equal”, even though they did not recognize everyone as equals until many years after that. Today, we celebrate the 4th of July in America because of that idea of equality, yet not all Americans were actually free and equal until June 19th, 1865. Not only did it take that long between the Declaration of Independence and the emancipation of slaves, but we didn’t even recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday until two years ago. I find it interesting that America is built on pillars of freedom and equality, yet throughout our country’s history, we have struggled to demonstrate those values in our society. It is important to understand how we got here, and it’s good to celebrate our freedom… but maybe in the future, we can start having bigger Juneteenth BBQs to celebrate the first time all Americans were truly independent.