Twenty-Six Reasons I Do Not Usually Celebrate July 26th

Twenty-Six Reasons I Do Not Usually Celebrate July 26th

By : Paul Jackson
Elpaulay@yahoo.com


1. Nothing in this declaration actually speaks to the struggles and aspirations of the very people this so-called “Love of Liberty” met on the Liberian Soil. It was all about those people who boarded those ships from “you know where”………

2.Because all of our leaders, from the mixed bred J.J. Roberts, to the home bred Samuel Kanyon Doe, from the “totally involved President Tolbert, to the “child” that is supposed to be “great”, Ellen Sirleaf, have proven to be ineffective, lacking in innovation, nepotistic, childishly enchanted by the presidency, but perpetually disinterested in the responsibilities that accompany the office.


3. Because we crafted a nation on an American template that did not pay attention to any of our culturally specific dynamics (customs, history, etc.,)- A complete copycat excuse of a Declaration of Independence


4. Because I am still convinced that being colonized and ill-treated by the innovative White Man would have been more tolerable than gaining independence under the auspices of clueless Black and half-Black liberators who visited some of the same discriminatory practices for over a century on their own people. After all, the White Man left innovation and eye-pleasing infrastructures in parts of the places he colonized.


5. Because I simply hate the Congo-Native dichotomy which enabled semi-literate Negros to inflict emotional and other collateral damage on their own people for over a century and a quarter.


6. Because the only time the wordings of our national anthem makes sense is when Liberia Lone Star is about to engage in an international soccer match-But even a silly nursery rhyme would make sense at that moment. Don’t you think?


7. Because I have never been known to be a strange-bedfellow of my oppressors and people who dehumanize me-Why should I sing an anthem, and march to the drum beat of words that do not mean a damn thing to me?



8. Because I still have the same emotional and physical scars like those other Africans whose nations were colonized-Scars inflicted by half-white men and Black men that were as dark as my Grandpa. And yes, still hear the covert voice of my oppressor in public and private places when he/she is forced to condescendingly accept me as an equal.



9. Independence from what? Unless you have a thing for pomp and pageantry, but “Independence” and “Liberia” in the same sentence is a complete misnomer-Independence from what?! I tire yah….


10. Lastly, because there’s no way this editor is going to grant me the luxury of writing a damning twenty-six paragraphed exposé of our beloved independence day.

God bless Liberia and may we someday gain true independence from the forces of oppression.

i tiya too, paulay.

I hear you oh bro...

change starts with you bro

DSP wrote:

change starts with you bro

Really like this!

Paul
Your intimate, intelligible and poignant discourse evokes not only my complete empathy but also summons by according sympathy for a people and yes...a tattered and battered nation whom we should certainly commiserate if not celebrate the resilience to continue to rise from the ashes again and again.

Regardless of what editor will or will not grant you the luxury of expounding further on your treatise...it is relevant. I hear you oh.

Thanks for the inspiration:


162
New Anthem For an Old Nation

All hail, Liberia, hail
The surmounting of Liberty’s birth travail
The oppression and dehumanization
The cultural nullification and self-imposed sovereign domination
The sacrifice of our traditions and our intrinsic identity
The rivers of the people’s blood sweat and tears
Shed forging this nation for one hundred and sixty-two years.

Hail, all, Liberia, all
Our struggles in the ignominious company
Of nations likewise birthed tumultuously
Amidst betrayed trusts and self-serving allegiances
Unholy Crusades and Manifest Destiny’s deluded bliss
For every fledgling nation must learn as it grows
Heeding the lessons of the child that scrapes its knees and scuffs its nose

So hail, Liberia, triumphantly hail
For we cannot toss baby Liberty out with the dirty bath water
We cannot withhold our indomitable spirit from our sons and daughters
For their true independence lies in the sacred trust
Inextricably and solely incumbent upon us
To never engage in the self-destruction of negating
The naked truth that our tattered yet resilient legacy is worthy of celebrating
MHK