July 4

Today is the birthday, in 1911, of Elizabeth Peratrovich, an Alaskan Native civil rights activist, who I mentioned on February 16. 

Today marks the death, in 1533, of John Frith, an English Protestant martyr and advocate of religious tolerance. 

Today marks the death, in 1963, of Clyde Kennard, a veteran and civil rights activist who was framed by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Committee and jailed for his advocacy for integrated education. An all-white jury found him guilty of stealing $25 worth of chicken feed, for which he received a seven-year jail sentence. While in prison, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, and while on medical release, he died. His supporters secured a posthumous pardon for him, but the people who conspired to use the legal system to ruin his life were never brought to justice. 

Today is also the birthday, in 1941, of Brian Wilson, peace activist and former Vietnam vet, who in 1987 was purposefully run over by a train when he and other protesters were blocking the tracks. Navy medics who arrived on the scene refused to treat him, and he lost the use of his legs. He has maintained his peace activism even since. The purposeful injury and killing of protesters with vehicles is both rhetoric and a tactic of violent white supremacy.

Reflection: 

On this Independence Day, our country has a tendency to glorify military patriotism. I think it’s just as important to remember people who have fought for freedom within our country—by protesting, educating, and working for peace. These peaceful warriors have fought for independence without necessarily holding a gun, putting their own bodies on the line: people like Brian Wilson, who was born on July 4, and Clyde Kennard, whose body was jailed and neglected until he died on July 4, because he had the audacity to apply for college.

Clyde Kennard was framed by a racist inquisitor named Zack Van Landingham, whose investigative notes on Clyde Kennard are available here. In them, Kennard is described as a “race agitator.” 

This history is just as important to remember as the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. These justice-workers have been declaring independence and their defiance of authoritarian rule ever since. We continue to declare our freedom from tyranny with our words and our deeds. 

There is an interview and a summary of Brian Wilson’s story here. 

Brian Wilson said, 

Prayer: Great Spirit whose power is Love and whose gift is Freedom, we know that the political powers of this world use the words “love” and “freedom” in a cynical and manipulative way. Give us true freedom: spiritually, mentally, physically, and politically. Amen.