See Colin Kaepernick Respond To 'Happy 4th Of July' Tweets

After the unprecedented protest movements in support of Black lives and justice across the country these past few weeks, this Fourth of July has been hitting different. Many are tired of the white supremacist narratives about American independence, and instead are quoting Frederick Douglass and other leading Black thinkers about what “Independence Day” means for Black folks.

Cutting through the noise is Colin Kaepernick, who posted a searing critique of the American holiday, rejecting outright that we have anything at all to celebrate today.

“Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of “independence”, while you enslaved our ancestors,” he wrote. “We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all.”

He accompanied the video with a slide show of enslaved and brutalized Black people against the background of the Declaration of Independence and fireworks: