Some thoughts on the 4th of July

Yesterday, we had a cookout for the 4th of July. Not suprising, there was no mention of this being Independence Day, thus, the day of celebration and the reprieve from work. I started thinking about Frederick Douglass's speech, "What to the slave is the 4th of July." Of course, re-reading his speech got me to thinking about nationalism and our responsibilities as Americans. How does his sentiments still affect black Americans or show in our reactions to the 4th? Often in the south, blacks celebrate on a different day, one that is associated with the Emancipation Proclamation and when the particular states heard about it. These celebrations are called Juneteenth celebrations. In Florida it occurs on the 20th of May. In my town, they have a parade/barbecue and often there are local baseball games or other activities going on. Even churches have like an old-fashioned day.

"The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony."

I am interested in his use of the term mourn here and what it means to my work on mourning and melancholia. Seems like a interesting word choice and it is response to nationalism and identity.