How to Approach the Fourth of July

How are you feeling about the Fourth of July?

This isn’t a poll, per se, and it certainly isn’t a process by which Indivisible Central Indiana is going to decide what it does over the Independence Day weekend based on a plurality of “votes.”   We might, however, hear some ideas that allow us to put some like-minded people together.

How do you, personally, plan to commemorate the holiday?  Are you going to participate in traditional public parade/picnic/fireworks activities, setting aside "The Resistance" for a while for the sake of family or just for a day of respite?   Are you going to gather more privately with a smaller group of like-minded friends?

Are you going to hang your American flag outside your house; maybe even get a bigger one, or some bunting, in a defiant effort to reclaim our Founding Ideals?  Are you going to hang

your flag upside down in protest?   Or hang a black flag, or plant a “January 6 – Never Forget” in your yard as a reminder that the current regime is a violent refutation of the democratic principles that governed our country from 1776 to 2024?

Perhaps the easiest thing to do, for Indivisible and other protest organizations, is to simply stand down for the weekend, and encourage each member to do privately what works best for them.

We have not, at this point, heard a great groundswell for using the Fourth of July to stage the biggest protest to date, OR to disrupt or even make statements at the traditional hyper-patriotic parades and festivals.  But that might just be because everyone has been focused on Race Weekend and Pride for the last couple of weeks.

We have heard some interest in working with the other protest organizations to do some “counter-programming,” such as a group picnic like the one Indiana 50501 held in Garfield Park on May 17, to provide our supporters the chance to build some community and share some values instead of just grieving in solitude.   And if not one big event, maybe multiple smaller localized ones.

And if there are individuals who are interested in doing more, like having a presence along one or more parade routes with non-confrontational signage emphasizing such foundational American values as Equality, Diversity (E Pluribus Unum), Freedom from Tyranny – the way that Westside Indivisible represented at the 500 Festival Parade – or something else -- well, if nothing else, Indivisible Central Indiana can use our communications tools to connect those of you who are interested.

What are your thoughts?   Send us an email at info@indivisiblecentralindiana.org and we will try to respond accordingly.