Facing the Fallacy of the Fourth

Facing the Fallacy of the Fourth:
Why Should Blacks Celebrate ?

Paul Scott



Call me an iconoclastic, hater but I don't celebrate Independence Day. When the kids next door set off firecrackers late into the night, I'm the dude who calls 911 to report a noise ordinance violation.
It's not that I have a problem with folks getting the day off from work, heading to the beach and stuffing themselves with hot dogs. But as a black, African American, person of color or however you want to describe a decedent of enslaved Africans, I think that the whole shebang is highly overrated.

Sure, white folks can sing songs about bombs bursting in air but at the time when said bombs were exploding, my ancestors were picking cotton in the hot Carolina sun.

As a matter of full disclosure, I've never prided myself as the all American boy type. I hate baseball and even the thought of apple pie makes me nauseous. So my view of American history may be cynical at best. Black folks were not free in 1776, did not have full citizenship in 1876, were still fighting for equal rights in 1976 and if the right wing conservatives have their way, 2076 ain't looking too promising.

My disdain for the Fourth of July is not based on a mere political ideology but historical accuracy. It was not until four score and five years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence that Abe Lincoln delivered his Emancipation Proclamation and a century later Dr. Martin Luther King was still dreaming of equal rights for African Americans.

The real truth that should be self evident is, although all men may have been created equal, the United States did not even begin to embrace this concept until the late 1960's.

Historically speaking, not until slavery became less economically viable did the "peculiar institution" end in America.

Black folks gained nothing from the Revolutionary War. Since England abolished slavery in 1833, it is reasonable to assume that if the British would have won the war slavery would have ended 30 years earlier.

Some will argue that the election of Barack Obama as this country's first black president is reason, in and of itself, for black folks to celebrate the 4th. After all, isn't this a sign that we are finally one nation?

Well, somebody needs to tell that to Right Wing talking heads .

With the way that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the rest of that bunch have treated both Barack and Michelle Obama since the election, it seems that the First Family are just one foot off the plantation, themselves.

But yet, you can bet on July 4th you will have a bunch of drunk black folks stumbling around in red, white and blue top hats slurring the words to "My Country Tis of Thee."

How many racist anti-Obama emails do black folks have to get in their email in boxes before they realize that even in 2009, the road to Freedom is still under construction ?

The saddest part of the whole ordeal is the message that we are sending young black children when we encourage them to celebrate Independence Day. Instead of teaching our children to think critically, we are forcing them to accept a blatantly false version of history without examining the facts. How can we teach them to value education when the foundation of the United State's educational system is based on a 200 year old lie that had a holiday formed around it. To teach young black children to celebrate Independence Day is intellectually, criminal.

So, go ahead white America, enjoy your day in the sun. But as an African American, I close with the immortal words that the great abolitionist Frederick Douglas delivered to a predominately white audience in 1852:

"This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."


Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com

First a Black President; Now a Black Jesus

First a Black President; Now a Black Jesus:
Dreamin' of a Black X Mass



Paul Scott




Now that most of America has finally gotten over the fact that in a few weeks the leader of the free world is going to be a black man, I've got a real shocker for y'all and you might wanna sit down for this one...

The man whose birthday that you go in debt celebrating every December 25th...

Well, he was black too!

Not only that. But he was a black man who was baptised by a radical preacher named John the Baptist and hung out with a reformed terrorist named Simon Peter.

So, you might want to get a refund on that new $100 nativity scene that you just brought from WalMart because that pale skinned Christ child laying in the manger in your front yard is, well, an impostor

Since, the last election many white folks have been busy patting themselves on the back bragging about how America has finally become tolerant of all cultures and racism is a thing of the past.

But hypocrisy for most folks goes but so far. And when you start messin' with the traditional image of some one's religious icon, all bets are off!

Traditionally, the image of a caucasian Christ has been as American as apple pie. Whether you, personally, despise the taste, you swallow it anyway. That's the sacrifice of being a patriotic American.

However, with this sudden embrace of diversity, can America finally accept that in all likely-hood, Jesus (Yeshua) probably resembled the new president elect, Barack Obama more so than the 43 presidents before him?

From a geographical standpoint, it would be virtually impossible that a person born in the region of the world commonly known as "the Middle East" courtesy of a man made ditch known as the Suez Canal which separates it from Northeast Africa could have pale skin and not get a terrible sun burn. Also, he could never have hidden in Egypt for so many years, incognito.

Now, we've all heard the much parroted argument that his skin was like an "olive."

(Yeah, but more like one of those black olives that they put on your sandwich at Subway.)

Historically speaking, the image of the blue eyed, blond haired Jesus is the result of artistic license taken by European artists such as Michelangelo who used his family members to pose as Biblical characters. And since Pope Julius II gave the painting a thumbs up, no one questioned it.

But after nearly 500 years, don't you think that it is time to change the traditional image of Christ to one more reflective of historical accuracy than ethnocentric bias ?

For many white folks this is much to do about nuthin'. But your ancestors didn't get brought here by Captain John Hawkins in chains on the "Good Ship Jesus of Lubeck." Neither were you told that your servitude was divinely ordained by the same image that's on the Christmas cards that you get every year.

Now if you are one of those highly intellectual scholars who believes that "Jesus" is simply an esoteric concept that should not be subjected to historical scrutiny, the color of Christ is a moot point.

However, if you are one of those Bible thumpin' Evangelicals who believes that everything in the Bible is the 100% unadulterated word of the Creator, than in 2008, you've got some explaining to do to convince me that Jesus was not a man of color.

Especially, since people have been preaching the Gospel of cultural diversity for the past year. If a predominately white congregation wants to prove their cultural and religious tolerance to me, all the pastor has to do is replace the white fellow with the straight hair above the pulpit with a black man with dreadlocks. Then we can break out the eggnog and sing a soulful rendition of Silent Night, together.

Let's face it. This is a new day in America and now that the Pandora's box of cultural diversity has been pried open, don't be surprised if you start seeing black Jesus figurines popping up all over the place.

So, to all my white Evangelical Christian friends, I leave you with my Hip Hop version of a popular song of the season.

"May your days be merry, not wack"

"And may all your Christmases be black"


Paul Scott "the Hip Hop Truth Minista's" blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com