CELEBRATION AND REFLECTION
For Americans, the 250th festivities offer a moment for reflection as well as celebration.
After two and a half centuries of triumphs and tragedies, slavery and freedom, civil war and world wars, multiple surveys indicate a nation divided about where it is and where it’s going.
A Quinnipiac University Poll showed 61 per cent of Americans thought the US was not living up to the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence – although even opinion on that was divided, with most Republicans thinking it did, and most Democrats thinking it didn’t.
“There’s too many people that hate on each other, steal from each other. They don’t love each other,” said Los Angeles-based artist Johnny Presley.
“I’m sick of the way this country treats people. I’m sick of the way this country treats its foreign neighbours,” he added. “I’m sick of a lot of damn things.”
For others, like American-Iranian Karisa Tavassoli, an educator in Atlanta, the basics of the American dream still ring true.
“I have safety, I have freedom of speech, I have freedom of religion, I can wear whatever I want as a woman,” she told AFP.
“There are many flaws here, but we have something very special that’s worthy of protecting,” she added.
Alonzo Coby, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, is grateful to be able to celebrate 250 years of the United States.
“But I want people to remember that Native Americans have been here a lot longer than 250 years,” he said.
