Justice, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Irony: A 5th of July Reflection

I won’t lie; I had a blast on the 4th of July this year. It was the first time I forgot about COVID, the insurrection, Donald Trump, Kaepernick, Trayvon Martin, Women’s Rights, mass shootings, and the recent disinformation tweet from our Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 
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But as the smoke from the fireworks just add to the already dangerously high air quality, we’re back to reality, and it feels like the perfect moment to pause and consider the realities that define our country today.

I’ve seen a few posts recalling the powerful words of Frederick Douglass in 1852, when he asked: "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" He questioned the very meaning of freedom in a country built on the foundation of slavery. Today, his question pulled me back into our nation's enduring inequities.

The recent Supreme Court rulings signify a turning point that can't be ignored. The high court's decisions are gradually eroding the principle of equality that forms the cornerstone of our democracy. When the court limits affirmative action in educational institutions, it overlooks our society's deeply entrenched systemic disparities. When it upholds the rights of a website designer to deny service to same-sex couples on the grounds of religious freedom,

SCOTUS seems to forget that freedom should never serve as a mask for discrimination.

And this thread of religious freedom has also found its way into the battle for reproductive rights. Recently, abortion cases have used religious liberty as a defense, challenging restrictive abortion laws based on the claim that they infringe on religious freedom. We’ve seen groups argue in court that their religious beliefs support a woman’s right to choose, highlighting the contradictory ways religious freedom is utilized in legal battles.

These Supreme Court decisions sit heavily on us as a nation post-Independence Day. They remind us of the gaps in our pursuit of freedom and equality that become more visible in the light of the celebrations from the day before.

Stepping outside the courtroom, the damage inflicted during the Trump administration only grows. The insurrection, a dark day in our history, unveiled the fragility of our democracy and the threats posed to the foundations of our freedom. It was a stark reminder of the dangers of divisive rhetoric and unchecked power. The security of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - freedom - is the weakest I’ve seen. We lack the freedom to maintain our privacy, to trust in unbiased journalism, to enjoy clean air without the dread of climate change or control of our bodies. We do not have the freedom to kneel, to protest, to walk in our neighborhoods without anxiety, and to pursue education free from gun violence.

Our society, once a testament to liberty, now bears the weight of these ironies.

Yet, as unsettling as these rulings and the status quo are, they have also stirred up patriotism in ways I didn’t expect. As our nation continues to diversify, more voices are rising, demanding to be heard, pushing against the rulings that take us a step back. Harvard has publicly entered the legislative, executive, and judicial arena defending the right to an education. Drag queens still dawn red, white, and blue and lead by example. They are voices of change that understand that our concept of freedom should expand and evolve to truly encompass everyone.

Today was a moment to grapple with the gaps between the ideals we celebrate on Independence Day and the realities we live in every day. It's a moment to carry forward the spirit of the 4th of July by striving to create an America where freedom isn’t a mere slogan but a reality.