blood, white, and blue

It's 12:34 AM on July 5th, 2025 and I still see fireworks going off in the sky.

I hear the booms, the bangs, the commotion of endless fireworks

going on for hours

still raging

on a brand new day.

Did I have a barbecue with a friend? Yes, but did I celebrate the rights I don't have? No.

What am I supposed to celebrate?

I see and hear people with their illegal fireworks complaining about what they think are illegal people living on stolen land

and all I can even do is sit and cry

knowing what our modern day definition of "democracy" is.

I see people with their hot dogs and hamburgers in hand,

their colorful fireworks,

American flags plastered on every inch of their bodies,

chanting the words, "I love America"

when there's nothing to love

about a country run by

a man whose motivation is hatred.

I see people celebrating the freedom I don't have,

as I watch the rights being stripped 

of more and more people each day.

I see people celebrating the independence

of our country

right as we're on the verge of a war,

one that many people

see no issue with.

I see people, both oblivious and selfish,

watching our government strip rights

from women, gay people, trans people, black people, the less fortunate and all other marginalized groups I am unable to mention directly because there are simply just that many people whose needs are not met

and whose freedom is not fought for enough,

although it shouldn't be something one must fight for at all.

I watch people celebrate

a democracy

that's masking a king,

the one who is hypnotizing

the "strictly republicans"

and the "strictly MAGAs",

the same people who

blast "Born in the U.S.A." on the Fourth of July

mistaking it for a song about freedom.

I think it's time that we rip off the mask.

We'll rip it off hard and proud as we chant "NO KINGS"

with out hands painted blue as we shout

"HANDS OFF".

It's time to remind the government what democracy really is.