As our July 4th celebrations (mercifully) come to a close this year, I thought I’d post a few pieces to read that may or may not have a meaningful connection to celebrating our country’s birthday — I’ll let you decide.

— First up is a piece from Axios that discusses how racism against indigenous peoples is “baked into” our country’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson's reference to Indigenous people as "merciless Indian Savages" was in his 27th grievance against King George, in which he accused the king of encouraging "domestic insurrection" by Native Americans against white colonists.

By the way, I found this Axios article via a comment on Sherman Alexie’s Substack post published today titled “Indian Fireworks”. Athough it shouldn’t have been, this little-referenced part of the Declaration of Independence is enlightening information for me.

— A recent article from The New York Times discussing why a good number of Americans are declining to celebrate Independence Day, this year in particular.

Ms. Tapp, who now lives in Atlanta, also realized that many festive components of Fourth of July aren’t that palatable for her. There are the fireworks. “It’s hard to tell the difference between guns and fireworks, and here there is always something on the news about a shooting or something, so it makes me nervous,” she said. “They are also bad for the environment. They release a lot of toxic chemicals.”

— Speaking of fireworks, as the non-stop pounding continues in my neighborhood, here is an important take on the July 4th holiday from man’s (and woman’s) best friend.

Did you ever wonder what your dog talks about with his fellow canines at doggie day care, or when he or she is attending a weekly support group?

Oh, God, and then she tries to wrangle me into the dreaded anxiety vest that's supposed to compress me into some sort of manageable state…

— Finally, here’s a link to a more generous list of July 4th articles I posted last year, in case you have extra reading time.

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on America’s July 4th holiday. Feel free to share in the Comment Section below.

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