The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Dul-Sayin’ - What July 4th Means to Black Folks

Episode Date: July 5, 2022

When Black Americans were freed in the southern states and began celebrating the Fourth of July, confederate mobs responded in hostility and banned most of their celebrations. Dulce Sloan unpacks the complicated relationship Black Americans have with Independence Day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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And if y'all give me donuts again, I'm gonna hurt somebody. But despite that, there are black folks out there who have a complicated relationship with the 4th of July. You know, because of all the slavery and segregation and redlining and belief brutality, and Megan the Stallion not getting the respect she deserves. And I get that. But did you know that there was a time when July 4th was a very black holiday? In fact, there was a time when America thought black people celebrated July 4th a little too much. Here's the story. Before the Civil War, Independence Day was a day for white people to celebrate by parading around town and getting wasted

on cheap booves. It was basically a Patriots game for the original Patriots. But, for the growing anti-slavery movement, July 4th was a shameful day that represented America's hypocrisy. Because how you're going to celebrate freedom when you're chaining up millions of people. That's like Britney Spears' dad throwing a party because he can write his own checks. And no one expressed this anger better than Frederick Douglas in a speech he gave on July

4th, 1852, where he told white Americans that, the existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense and your Christianity as a lie. Damn. That was a read straight from the Library of Congress. I would have been like, yeah, and your wigs look goofy as f-feeck. Your petticoat smelled like horseballs, and your wood teeth got termites. Mm-hmm, with your old dying of consumption ass.

I know gout when I see it. But then, the Civil War happened. And it completely flipped the script on July 4th, especially in the South, because now black people can actually celebrate freedom. And white Southerners were in no mood to celebrate the Independence Day of a country that had just whooped their asses. So suddenly, Independence Day became an almost exclusively black holiday in the former Confederacy. Black people had picnics, they watched fireworks,

they recited the Emancipation Proclamation in the 13th Amendment, which sounds like fun, except for reading all those documents. I don't know, maybe if they put like a beat to it or something. Neither slavery, no involuntary servitude except its punishment for crimes were of the party shall even do me, restinct shall exist within the United States. Now it's no surprise that racist whites didn't like black people celebrating their freedom from racist whites, so they decided the party had to stop. Starting in the 1870s

white mobs began attacking black gatherings in July 4 and soon state legislatures passed laws banning celebrations near black neighborhoods, pushing parades out of city limits, and even forbidding street fenders from setting up food stalls in black areas. Do you know how racist you have to be to want less funnel cake? Basically these racist robakers were the original barbecue Becky. And stopping black celebrations with just one part of their century-long struggle against

black freedom and racial justice. So I don't know about you, but this July 4th I'll be celebrating Independence Day as hard as I celebrate Junete as a day of freedom for all Americans. Not just because it's fun, but also because I get to piss off all those dead racist watching from hell. And also because it's my birthday! Now give me all that fun of cake. Happy in the Penduce day everybody!

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