By: Annie Xu
The Fourth of July is a national holiday that is often celebrated with fireworks, sparklers, and watermelon. The 4th of July is a very patriotic holiday. July 4th, 1776 was when the Declaration of Independence was signed, it announced America’s freedom. Now, across the nation, it seems there is a lack of love for this holiday.
Malaya Tapp is one of the Americans that has lost the love for this holiday she once had. Tapp said she loved celebrating the Fourth of July. However, now that Tapp is an adult entering college, she finds honoring this holiday to be more difficult. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement highlighted the racial violations that continue to happen around the country. Tapp said after seeing these racial injustices, she “lost a lot of (her) patriotic feelings.”
Another reason why some Americans may be hesitant to indulge in 4th of July activities is that the sound of a firework has an uncanny resemblance to a gun being fired. Many Americans find discomfort in fireworks now due to the similarity. With the recent rises in school shootings, it’s hard to blame them. Tapp said, “It’s hard to tell the difference between guns and fireworks, and here there is always something on the news about a shooting or something, so it makes me nervous.” She also doesn’t like fireworks because they are “bad for the environment,” and they also “release a lot of toxic chemicals.”
A survey done by YouGov states that 56 percent of American adults were planning to celebrate the Fourth of July. However, the lack of patriotism isn’t evenly spread within the nation. Celebrities are an outlier in this field. Demi Lovato, Post Malone, and Sheryl Crow are only a couple artists that are performing in CNN’s Fourth of July Special. There is an underlying trend that the younger adults tend to celebrate this holiday less than their older relatives.
Not everyone feels distant with this holiday. Issac Norbe, a 40 year old who works in marketing in Seattle, said for him it was about “celebrating your community and the community you create with the people around you.” Norbe said that ,to him, the 4th of July was more about “celebrating everyone in the country,” instead of celebrating a single holiday.