In 1812, Britain was interfering with United States’ trade, kidnapping its military personnel to serve in the British navy and hindering westward expansion on land in this country. The United States, thirty-six years after the Revolutionary War in 1776, declared war on Britain. The young country was determined to maintain her previously hard-won freedom from the British Empire. In August 1812, British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and set fire to the White House, the Capital and other government buildings. Then they headed to Baltimore, Maryland to take control of its major port. For twenty-four hours, a battle raged at Fort McHenry. The odds of victory were against the United States. But in the blend of neon orange of munitions firings and the pale tangerine of dawn against an indigo sky, a lawyer observing the battle from a nearby U.S. ship saw the flag of the United States raised in victory. This country was on its way to winning a second war for its freedom from British rule.
Two hundred years and nine years later, this nation seems to have forgotten “liberty and justice for all” as it oppresses people of color whether indigenous or from abroad, who hunger for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Lately, the media has been flooded with the history of the Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre, but there was also the Rosewood, Florida massacre and many others. The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, but only freed slaves in the confederate states of the country. Enslaved African Americans in Texas were freed two and a half years later, June 19, 1865. The 14th Amendment was in place in June of 1866 and freed all enslaved African Americans. Juneteenth celebrates the liberation of the slaves in 1865. During World War II, Black Americans were contained under the laws of Jim Crow and Japanese Americans were interred in camps. The Chinese Exclusion Act was first law to bar immigration solely on race; 1906, a Chinese fishing village outside Monterey, CA was burned down. In the 1907, the Bellingham Mill Riots, Indo Indians were massacred at the lumber mill. Laws were passed by states that forbade persons of color to testify against whites. Indigenous people were moved from their homelands to reservations and did not become U.S. Citizens until the Nationality Act, 1940. In 1924, the Indian Citizen Act granted citizenship to indigenous Americans born after that year. People of color were consistently denied their right to vote. Filipina American grape farmers started to strike because of poor pay and working condition. Pacific Islanders were branded as unclean and unhealthy; during the Great Depression Mexican Americans were discouraged and even forbidden from accepting charitable aid. These are just a few of the backstories.
The flag of the United States of America remains a symbol of freedom, but its symbolism is marred by hate groups brandishing it as they reek violence, death and terrorism upon Americans who are Indigenous, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander. Why not cease to massacre and work for a “home of the brave and the land of the free?” Flag Day, June 14th and Juneteenth, June 19th—let us remember the stories behind these dates.
Reflections
Knowledge informs our behaviors. The content of the list below can be disturbing, but it may motivate us to consider our behaviors towards one another. That is the hope in sharing this information. The strength of the United States of America is grounded in unity not division.
History of the Flag:
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/the-star-spangled-banner
Historical Foundations of race
https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race
History of Racism against Indigenous People
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/amgovernment/chapter/civil-rights-for-indigenous-groups-native-americans-alaskans-and-hawaiians/
History of Racism against African Americans in the United States
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/158-resources-understanding-systemic-racism-america-180975029/
History of Racism against Latinx
https://www.history.com/news/the-brutal-history-of-anti-latino-discrimination-in-america
Violence history against Asians in American:
The History of Anti-Asian-American Violence | The New Yorker
Dorothy Watson Tatem, D.Min., ACC
Senior Associate
Next Step Associates, LLC
Cassandra W. Jones, Ed.D.
CEO & President