A lighted fountain by the U.C. Capitol and the Buck Supermoon on the Fourth of July, 2023: Glynn Wilson

The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It is understandable why many Americans are having mixed feelings about celebrating Independence Day this year.

So many things seem conflicted in our divergent feelings about what freedom, liberty and independence mean in these trying times when the vox populi seems so divided. Many people will take the opportunity post-Covid to get out on the water, cook out and celebrate anyway. Some will skip the holiday, due to the noise and pollution of fireworks, the extreme heat in places, and what seems like an institutional attack on the progress of freedom by the rightwardly skewed Supreme Court.

NYT: Why Some Americans are Conflicted and Rethinking Celebrating the Fourth of July

It’s not the first time a large swath of American citizens felt betrayed by the Constitutional promise of America. In 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered what may be his most famous address, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”

A National Park Service volunteer playing the role of Frederick Douglass at the Anacostia River Fest: Glynn Wilson

“Above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wails of millions!” Douglas said, “whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today, more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.”

National Park Service

Full Text: ORATION, DELIVERED IN CORINTHIAN HALL, ROCHESTER, BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JULY 5TH, 1852.

This time of year, quotations from the speech are often shared on social media as a subtle pushback to the dominant paradigm.

Douglass recognized that the founding fathers were “great men” who “staked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor on the cause of their country.” But he also had the audacity to believe that America’s story was not finished until the country kept all her promises. There is a hidden affection in the stinging words of rebuke, according to one bit of analysis in The New York Times.

Frederick Douglass Knew What False Patriotism Was

When I mentioned this on the New American Journal Facebook Group, some of my friends, fans and followers agreed.

“I’m might go to my mom’s for a bit. However, this is the first year I do not feel like celebrating,” said Nancy Dowdy Cole. “Coming from a military family, the 4th has always been a pretty big deal and looked forward to … but not this year. I am grateful for our freedoms and realize we have much. Yet, it seems our country is hellbent on destroying the progress made over time. I feel dangerous precedents have been set this past week…. Just don’t feel patriotic or like celebrating this year.”

Gary Mckenzie agreed.

“I don’t really feel like there’s anything to celebrate,” he said. “It’s all in danger of being DESTROYED in the name of GREED for just a handful of powerful, wealthy people. Where did The United States of America go?”

Linda McHardie said she was she was going to a family picnic to forget about everything for a while.

“Of course my family are a bunch of Republicans, and very mouthy,” she said. “Maybe I won’t forget everything.”

Here in the nation’s capital, I will not be doing much celebrating on Tuesday. Even though the Metro trains will be free after 5 p.m. on the Fourth for anyone who wants to make the trek downtown to see the fireworks, I will remain in the shade of the woods and maybe sip an IPA with a modest dinner.

But on July 2, which is the real historical anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from England, I snuck downtown to try my hand at getting pictures of the Buck Supermoon with some Washington icons in the picture.

The Washington Monument and the Buck Supermoon on the Fourth of July, 2023: Glynn Wilson

Supermoons occur when the moon is closer to Earth than average, since the moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical, or oval-shaped, so there are times when our natural satellite appears slightly larger or smaller as its distance from us changes.

During a so-called supermoon, the moon appears about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than usual.

“The supermoon offers us a great opportunity to look up and discover the sky,” astronomer Gianluca Masi and the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome, Italy wrote for Space magazine. “Showing the stunning beauty up there, feeding the desire to enjoy it more and better, [and understanding] why it is disappearing from our cities, makes it possible to involve people and spontaneously promote responsible actions and behaviors in the use of artificial light.”

A lighted fountain by the U.C. Capitol and the Buck Supermoon on the Fourth of July, 2023: Glynn Wilson

The Buck Supermoon at 99 percent full on Sunday, July 2, 2023. Photo taken by the Washington Monument with a Cannon camera with a 1360 mm zoom lens: Glynn Wilson

However you decide to celebrate, or even if you choose not to, stay safe out there wherever you are and hang in there. You think it’s hot and humid now? Just wait.

It’s going to get much, much worse. We’ve not done nearly enough to stop the inevitable coming of massive changes in the climate due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation.

Just for the heck of it, and because I can, I combined one picture of the Buck Supermoon at 99 percent full on Sunday, July 2, 2023 with a picture of the Washington Monument. Photos taken by the Washington Monument with a Cannon camera with a 1360 mm zoom lens: Glynn Wilson

Try to have some fun however you can. Happy Independence Day from the New American Journal.

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