Two View of the 4th of July: First View

July 4, 1900. This was the day that Louis Daniel Armstrong was born. 

 

Or so he thought. Later, a piece of paper was found that claimed it was actually August 4, 1901. 

 

Which is true? The second may be literally accurate, the first a mythological truth. The Angel Gabriel descended to Earth to remind us mortals what true freedom and independence looks, feels and sounds like. That date also acknowledges “Pops” as one of the founding fathers of our countries and the one best qualified for that title. Why? Simply because 41 out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence owned people as property while claiming that “all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights.” And so on Independence Day, I go around greeting people with “Happy Louis Armstrong’s birthday!”

 

Today, I’m willing to split the difference. Keep the day on July 4^th and the year as 1901. That means that this would be Louis’ 125^th birthday, exactly half as long as the 250 years we’re supposed to celebrate today. In 1901, Jim Crow was still in effect, women did not yet have the right to vote, homosexuality was illegal, labor unions where on the rise but most strikes resulted in violence coming from police backing the bosses. It would be two more years before Mother Jones organized working children in the “Children’s Crusade” with banners demanding “we want time to play” and “we want to go to school.” Though the President refused to meet with the marchers, the incident brought the issue of child labor to the forefront of the public agenda. That’s where we were at the end of the first half of our 250- year history.

 

The next 125 years saw the rise of movements that moved the moral arc closer to justice, that filled the spiritual bank with sufficient funds to allow all to cash the promissory note the Constitution and Declaration of Independence promised—that all Americans would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (See MLK’s I Have a Dream speech.) The Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Gay Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, the Environmental Movement, the Free School Movement, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the Trans Movement and more all rose up, with a Jazz and Rock and Soul soundtrack that began with Louis Armstrong. 

 

Had more Americans followed the trend to more justice, more care for each other and our precious resources, more acceptance and tolerance and celebration of difference, more commitment to our own spiritual promise and liberation, this day would indeed be something to celebrate. Instead, the backlash of those determined to put unchecked greed, unearned privilege, purposely manufactured ignorance, mean-spiritedness and vitriol and division and hatred at the front of the line has pushed us further away from our spoken founding vision than any of us could have imagined. It is most decisively NOT a moment to celebrate. 

 

And yet. If we can see this as the dying gasp of the worst that we have been, the almost unbearable labor pains of the new world that awaits us, there is still room for hope. Let us consider Henry Miller’s words written in 1941 and re-double our efforts to bring this vision back to life as we enter the next 125 years. 

 

“ If it takes a calamity to awaken and transform us, well and good, so be it. Let us see now if the unemployed will be but to work and the poor properly clothed, housed and fed; let us see if the rich will be stripped of their booty and made to endure the privations and sufferings of the ordinary citizen; let us see if the people can voice their wishes in direct fashion, without the intercession, the distortion and the bungling of politicians; let us see if we can create a real democracy in place of the fake one we have been roused to defend; let us see if we can be fair and just not just to our own kind, but to all…”

 

                                             The Air-Conditioned Nightmare: Henry Miller

 

Then we might finally sing along with Pops: “It’s a Wonderful World.” Oh, yeah.