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“America was founded on the ideal of democracy. Black people fought to make it one.”
1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones
It was a Thursday and the unrest in the air was palpable. It had been slowly building for weeks – or rather years. It’s always hard to tell when a revolution really begins. Some in the gathering were afraid, many were angry, all were fed up. For far too long, their pleas had gone ignored. They were citizens against a government, but shit, didn’t they deserve respect?
It wasn’t simply a broken system. Yes, the system oppressed them, but people had died. Lives were being lost too regularly. Killed by those meant to protect them. So, they took to the streets in hope that the blood would not be spilled in vein.
Thousands gathered, which surprised some of them. Strangers bound by a common cause, they didn’t know exactly what to expect when they signed on. They knew one thing though, they were going to break the system, literally. The total damage of the night was $1million, and in the morning the destruction could be seen for miles. It wasn’t the first time and it likely wouldn’t be the last that their cause meant damage.
What was their mission? Freedom. And the result of this mission? The American Revolution, a bloody war, built on protesting and riots.
This night, was the night of the Boston Tea Party.
***
This episode of American Origin Stories explores the impact of Black revolt in the context of America's founding ideals and founding paradox. American freedom was built on uniquely American oppression - slavery.
Still, despite nearly a hundred years of oppression from 1776 to Juneteenth in 1865, Black people fought for their inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
From slave revolts, to Harriet Tubman's heroic efforts as the first woman to command in the United States military - Black people have shown what American freedom can look like when it is not founded on the blood of others.
The current Black Lives Matter movement that has swept the nation carries on that tradition with the impassioned protests existing in each of the 50 states and in countries around the world!
Join me, as I reimagine the American Revolution. I focus not on "Founding Fathers" who hoarded freedom for themselves and those who looked like them, but instead on the Black men, women, and nonbinary folks who work for freedom and justice for all.
*****
It was a Wednesday and the unrest in the air was palpable. It had been slowly building for weeks – or rather years. It’s always hard to tell when a revolution really begins. Some in the gathering were afraid, many were angry, all were fed up. For far too long, their pleas had gone ignored. They were citizens against a government, but shit, didn’t they deserve respect?
It wasn’t simply a broken system. Yes, the system oppressed them, but people had died. Lives were being lost too regularly. Killed by those meant to protect them. So, they took to the streets in hope that the blood would not be spilled in vein.
Thousands gathered, which surprised some of them. Strangers bound by a common cause, they didn’t know exactly what to expect when they signed on. They knew one thing though, they were going to break the system, literally.
Destruction from the police raid the night before could be seen for miles. It wasn't the first, and it likely would not be the last time that their cause meant brutality from the state.
But their mission is freedom, and they won't stop until there is a revolution!
This city was Portland, Oregon.
****
Black Lives Matter
We hold that truth to be self-evident. All people – women, men, non binary, LGBTQ - are created equal. We have unalienable rights. And to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their power from us – the governed. Whenever any form of Government becomes destructive to those ends, it is the right of US, the people, to abolish it and institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form to most likely affect our SAFETY and happiness. The declaration of independence gives us that right.
So we fight for a more perfect union…
Resources:
Written, produced, edited by Your Host Cha
Episode Art - by Your Host Cha using Canva
Music - Storyblocks: "Thumping Hardcare American Hip Hop," "Sad & Reflective Hip Hop," "Star Spangled Banner," "Gray Day," "Dreamy," "Instrumental Rap Beat."
Former Councilman Carl Stokes Clip on term "Thugs" for Protestors
Francis Scott Key - Quote regarding his thoughts about Black inferiority
What is the 4th of July to a Slave? Frederick Douglass Speech (July 5, 1852)
Guest voices to remain anonymous
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