A Day of Mourning

July 4, 2025 / Lauri Ann Lumby / 9 Comments

Today, we are supposed to be celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the birth of our nation and the freedoms granted by the Constitution of the United States. Today, this all feels like a joke. What can we possibly celebrate as millions of Americans are poised to lose the very services that allow them to be free, and millions have already lost those freedoms?

Today I will not be celebrating. Instead, I have set aside the day for grieving and prayer.

I know all of this is part of the death of the empire. I also hold on to the hope that this death will be clearing a way for something more just, compassionate, and free. Today, however, I just don’t see it. Those in power seem to be hell-bent on making America a home for the grotesquely wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

Instead of rambling on about all my heart of heart hopes this to be, please feel free to peruse my past writings about this death, or join me, as together we grieve the death of what we were told this nation could be.

I am with you in your grieving.

With love,

Lauri

Supplementary Articles:

Independence Day 2023

July Fourth

Seeing Beyond Appearances

Death Throes of the Empire

July Fourth

July 4, 2024 / Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

Today I don’t celebrate.

I grieve.

We are not,

nor have we ever been

free.

How can a nation built on genocide,

subjugation, and slavery call itself free?

The blood on our hands is the red in our flag.

White is the rage of freedoms deprived.

Blue is the bruising of eyes, and arms, and backs

of all those beaten down by discrimination, hatred, and bigotry.

We are not and we have never been free.

I weep for a nation that calls itself free

while over half a million are homeless…

where people are continually deprived of adequate food, shelter, and healthcare,

where our education system is being dismantled

and books are being banned.

Where women are no longer free to make decisions about their own health,

and where so many go without

while others bask in the wealth they could not spend if they tried.

How can we call ourselves free when

our tax dollars are going to fund another nation’s genocide and

when the blood on our hands is more than just our own?

Our nation is not free.

It never truly was.

So no – I do not celebrate July fourth.

Instead, today I grieve.

copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

Independence??? Day

July 3, 2023June 29, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

Why I Can No Longer Celebrate Independence Day

On July 4^th, we commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the day when the US citizens declared their freedom from British rule. For the past 247 years, we have celebrated this as the day of our “freedom” and have marked this day with fireworks, parades, carnivals, and backyard parties. We have celebrated July 4^th as if we truly are free and as if the freedoms meant for some mean freedom for all.

But the sad truth of history is that the freedoms declared in the Declaration of Independence and later set forth in our Constitution, were only intended for a few. From day one of our nation, women and people of color were not given the same freedoms as the men who demanded them. While some of this has changed in the past 247 years, and the freedoms given to U.S. citizens have expanded to include women (in some cases) and people of color (in fewer cases), there are still citizens of our nation and those who are seeking the freedoms we seem to guarantee who are not and may never be free.

Until the freedoms the United States seems to espouse are guaranteed and protected for all, I will not and cannot celebrate Independence Day.

Until the rights of some become the rights for all, we are not truly free!

Until women can walk the street without fear of being raped, we are not free.
Until black men can leave a place of business without being murdered, we are not free.
Until we have eliminated homelessness and hunger in our nation, we are not free.
Until a quality education is guaranteed and funded for all, we are not free.
Until access to medical care is guaranteed and isn’t a financial burden on those who are already struggling, we are not free.
Until women and children can feel safe in their homes, we are not free.
Until the justice system is fair and equitable, we are not free.
Until reform over incarceration becomes the norm, we are not free.
Until obstacles to voting are eliminated, we are not free.
Until we come up with REAL solutions to poverty, we are not free.
Until government corruption is eliminated, we are not free.
Until people can seek freedom in our nation without fear of reprisal, we are not free.
Until diversity is not only honored but celebrated, we are not free.
Until racism, police brutality, sexism, genderism, and religious intolerance are eliminated from our nation, we are not free.

For centuries, our nation has touted the glories of freedom, in a nation where millions are not truly free. Until all are truly free, I will not be celebrating Independence Day. Instead, I will be setting this day aside for prayer and for advocating on behalf of those who are not yet free.