My Name Is Iden | Celebrate what?
- Published: July 6, 2025
There is a nationwide call for people to boycott this year’s Fourth of July festivities as a protest against the Trump regime. That would definitely send a message, and alone is a good enough reason to not attend. But I want to briefly explain why I will not be attending any Fourth of July celebrations — not just this year but, perhaps, ever again, and why I think you should join me in that.
Two-hundred-and-fifty years ago, a small group of wealthy, white, men decided that they could no longer abide living under the tyranny of a monarch. They would rebel. They would fight. They would throw off the chains of monarchical oppression and build a new nation where people were free to pursue their own affairs and seek their own happiness.
That struggle was not a struggle that a small group of wealthy land — and human — owners could accomplish by themselves. They would need an army. So they fed this dream of freedom to the regular people — the people who didn’t own things, or humans, the people who were struggling to just make it. They said if those people would fight for them and sacrifice, then they would be free.
The wealthy white men succeeded. They sold this dream. They built their army and they won their war. But where is the freedom they promised? I would very much like to know that, because it seems to me that nothing has changed for us regular people.
Two-hundred-and-fifty years later — two-and-a-half freaking centuries — and we are all still struggling to get by. We still don’t own anything. We are all still fighting, or funding, the wars of a small group of wealthy white men while those same men promise the same thing: Fight for us and, someday, you too will be free.
I am a 46-year-old Black trans woman. I served my community and country for nearly three decades as a first responder and I can’t even go poop without worrying about the police. Where is my freedom? All the soldiers coming home from these wars, maimed without and within, then being denied care — where is their freedom?
I see, everyday, my fellow citizens doing exactly as they were told. We follow the rules, we work hard all day, we pay our taxes, we fight, we die — and yet, we are called “lazy” when we need help. We are called “radical” when we question. We are told how we can look, who we can love, and what we can do with our bodies. Where is our freedom?
There are masked militias kidnapping people. The president wants to deploy soldiers against his own citizenry. Our environment is being destroyed, our laws are being ignored, our voices are being silenced, and what little freedom we had is being strip-mined and given away to a small group of wealthy white men like it was just another national park.
Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of happiness.
That was the deal. That was the promise and they broke it. They lied. They lied to our ancestors and they are lying to us now. We work, we fight, we die and every year we are fed this same lie. They feed it to us and we swallow it. We cheer and applaud. We wave flags, we cook out, we come together and celebrate the anniversary of this great deceit.
The Fourth of July is a celebration of freedom — not a celebration of the hope of freedom, not the promise of freedom, and certainly not the illusion of freedom. It seems to me that the only freedom Americans have ever had is the freedom to work, to pay and to die. That wasn’t the deal. That was not the promise, and until the promise is kept, I will not be celebrating. I will not celebrate until we have a government that honors our sacrifices, protects our rights and represents the interests of American people before American profit. I will not be celebrating because there is nothing to celebrate — and there never will be if we keep believing their lie.
*The author is an artist and writer. She lives in Yellow Springs with her wife and three children. You can follow her work at mynameisiden.com.
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