FIRST YOUTH POET LAUREATE AMANDA GORMAN JOINS BOSTON POPS CELEBRATION

I've written previous articles on the Fourth of July and what that means to people of color and cited speeches by our forefathers and contemporaries on this subject with considerable focus on Frederick Douglas' Speech.  There are many opinions citing the pros and cons of supporting this holiday and are valid, I suppose.  It's particularly troubling this year with the Trump Regime, citizens and Republicans of his ilk and their serious efforts and successes in taking us back to the celebration of white supremacy in this country. 'Make America Great Again' has and continues to be a rallying call to the chagrin of many Americans.  I viewed CBS Morning News and was introduced to this young woman poet, Amanda Gorman and her take on the 4th and her view of what it should and can be in the most eloquent manner.  I did some research on her and was impressed and I'm glad to have been introduced to her and her activism with an emphasis on 'oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization'. She will recite her poem with the Boston Pops Orchestra as Americans celebrate the 4th. I viewed a rehearsal of the orchestra with the beautiful interpretive reading of her poem "Believer's Hymn for the Republic".    
                                                             

CBS News: 'Amanda Gorman believer's Hymn for the Republic'

 Trump will celebrate the 4th in D.C. in his honor rather than the country's celebration of this republic based on the highest ideals for freedom, liberty, and justice.  It has failed numerous times but the citizens and concerned representatives have fought relentlessly for it to live up to its principles. I will focus on the Boston Pops celebration for the rolling of tanks, military jets overhead and feigned patriotic platitudes repurposed in a rally speech for a second term by 45; is more than I can tolerate. There is a link to the CBS video of Amanda Gorman and the orchestra in rehearsal.  I've added the poem.

Believer's Hymn for the Republic

12 score and 3 years ago, to be exact,

Our founders dared to declare

The world's most revolutionary act:

A pact sworn for liberty and equality.

Out of many, was born one people;

A teeming nation made of nations,

At its very foundation a dream

For life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, we gather so that our Founders' words do not go diminished.

But also so that the work does not go unfinished.

For it's not just in a declaration of independence

But the everyday declaration of its descendants

That make a people equal.

It is our right and our role

To remember these words scratched on a scroll,

So we may live them and heal our nation whole.

We roll up our sleeves, we believe in the dream,

And these American stories, in the glory of the struggle,

For it is from our struggle that comes our nation's strength,

For the lengths that we fight for what is right

Is the fullest measure of our country's might.

And while we cannot shake or cast aside our past,

Every day we write the future. Together we sign it,

Together we declare it, we share it,

For this truth marches on inside each of us:

Americans know one another by our love of liberty.

When in fact, we are liberated by our love for one another.

We understand that a house divided cannot stand.

So let us make a pact to be the country that acts

As compassionate as we are courageous.

In the declaration's pages, we write a new order for the ages,

Where out of many, we are one,

Bright as a sun, and bold as an eagle,

A nation of all people, by all people,

For all people.

Let this fourth of July

Move forth our cry to redeem the dream.

As we remember those words forever ignited

That we the people have so long heard and recited.

That we are right to stand

But are revolutionary when we stand united