July 4 1776: When the USA rebranded genocidal settler colonial occupation as 'independence'.
Is independence in the room with us???
As a foreign national not raised in this country, my perception of the USA’s ‘founding’ was mostly based on what was represented in pop culture and 2000s media. In preparation to move here, I was hyper-aware of my ignorance of what an ‘authentic’ American culture might be. I stayed curious, secretly hoping to gain insight into edgier, behind-the-scenes perspectives unknown to the global community.
I later realized that 1) It’s much more complex given the regional diversity of this massive landmass and 2) Opinions/perceptions of July 4th within the liberalized higher-ed space aren’t so different from what I consumed on TV.
And that understanding was = America became an independent nation on July 4, 1776; the founding fathers (who were not Native Americans btw) are to credit for independence; Independence is ‘freedom’, and that’s an honorable thing; we commemorate this anniversary by day drinking, patio grilling, and tossing bags of corn kernels into makeshift holes.
For better or for worse, I was never formally (K-12) educated in this country, which means I get to DIY this knowledge gap. And I have some outstanding questions about the blurry, broad, and arbitrary definition of what it means to be an independent nation.
As a born and raised Malaysian, here is my understanding of independence. My country gained independence from British colonizers in 1957. Since then, Malaysia (or Malaya at the time) gained full autonomy of the nation’s government —independent of Western, white, British hegemony. Ethnically Malay leaders were elected into leadership positions and traditional cultural practices remained institutionalized.
Although I hesitate to give us full credit for the way we gained independence, given the neglect of other Indigenous communities (orang asli) and the treatment of the large Chinese and Indian immigrant population (which we’ll address at a different time), the promise of severing colonial presence in our institutions was still delivered.
With this background, I struggle to wrap my head around how the US considers itself independent. Independent from who??? I know I don’t know that much, but I know enough based on the Western/white hegemony retained to this day to question whether the USA was ever independent, to begin with.
Doesn't true independence mean that the USA should have been a sovereign Native American nation? Just like how Malaysia regained its sovereignty from British colonizers?
Instead, the Native peoples of America are actually, quite literally described as ‘merciless savages’ in said ‘Declaration of Independence’.
Instead, the Native peoples of America are to constantly fight uphill, expensive, legal battles to reverse the violent repercussions of land theft, when this land and country have always been theirs since time immemorial.
By the way!! I know this whole ‘4th of July is problematic’ thing isn’t at all that groundbreaking. Especially when USA's independence rides on a false freedom rhetoric claiming emancipation for all people when Black people were still enslaved and Native peoples were dehumanized.
I am mostly disoriented by the unorthodox understanding of ‘independence’ held by an overwhelming majority of US citizens. I didn’t get the memo that when colonial settlers occupied land by genociding native peoples and officially stopped paying taxes to the British monarchy, it could be rebranded as ‘independence’.
While reflecting on the USA’s problematic ‘founding’, I draw obvious parallels to the modern state of Israel, which was also ‘founded’ through colonial occupation through ethnic cleansing and destruction of native Palestinian people and land.
The day of Nakba is literally Israel’s Independence Day, adopting the USA’s understanding of ‘Independence’.
Realizing this connection makes the US-Israeli steel-bond allyship much more sense. In a fucked up way, we could predict how Israel’s genocidal, settler-colonial project will play out by studying the history of the United States.
It’s no secret that Israel’s colonial project, with the help of Western imperialist powers, does not stop at Palestine. If Israel succeeds, we will see ‘Manifest Destiny’, Westward expansion by settler ‘pioneers’, and other problematic justifications of land theft repeat themselves. And if Israel succeeds, in 100 years, we will see the descendants of colonial settlers reap the benefits of violent land grabs and native genocide while getting to evade responsibility and calling performative land acknowledgments appropriate damage control.
We cannot let this happen again.
If you are a descendant of American colonial settlers who inevitably reap the systemic benefits, you may get away without true accountability for your ancestor’s violence. But as a violent settler colonial genocide against Palestinians unfolds right now, there’s no way you could feel truly bad for how Native Americans were/are treated in this country if standing against Israel isn’t your number one priority right now.
Fourth of July recommended readings: