Malaya Tabb grew up in Benton, ARK, and loved celebrating the Fourth of July with her family. “We would go to parades, watch fireworks displays, and hang out with friends,” she said. “It was always a fun holiday.”
But now that she’s an adult — she’s 18 and will be attending college next year — celebrating Eid isn’t quite as simple.
It began in 2020 when the Black Lives Matter movement brought to light many grievances across the country. “I lost a lot of my patriotic feelings,” she said.
Mrs. Tabb, who now lives in Atlanta, also realized that many of the festive ingredients on the Fourth of July are not palatable to her.
There are fireworks. “It’s hard to tell the difference between firearms and fireworks, and here there’s always something in the news about a shooting or something, so it makes me nervous,” she said. It is also harmful to the environment. They release a lot of toxic chemicals.”
This year, she skipped vacation altogether, choosing instead to travel with a church youth group to visit the Nabajo community in Arizona, but the trip was canceled due to the covid outbreak.
Some Americans, especially young people, are rethinking whether they want to celebrate Independence Day. A YouGov survey found that 56 percent of American adults Plan to join in the festivities this year.
Of course, there are plenty of people, including celebrities, who still get caught up in the patriotic spirit. Demi Lovato, Post Malone and Sheryl Crow are among the many artists who perform at the Fourth of July special on CNN. Ja Rule plays live at Coney Island as part of the Celebration of Independence Day.
Marissa Vivuri, 29, a tech product manager in Manhattan, remembers the last time she celebrated the Fourth of July, a few summers ago. She was going to the Hamptons, she said, on the busiest Long Island Railroad train she had ever ridden. “I didn’t get a seat and was standing in the aisle, the restroom overflowed, and we all had to carry our bags,” she said.
She realized she never liked the holiday. “I remember even as a child feeling bad for animals during fireworks,” she said.
Logistically, celebrating in New York City presents challenges. “Either you’re in Manhattan, and it’s sweltering hot, and you know where to watch the fireworks. Or you’re trying to leave to go to the Jersey Shore or the Hamptons, and that’s a fortune and packed,” Ms. Favori said.
She also has political concerns about the holiday. “Last summer, Roe v. Wade was dropped, which made me less inclined to celebrate,” she said.
Even if she wanted to party, she would worry about the message you sent.
So this year it will leave the US mainland altogether and head to Italy and Britain instead. “I’ll be in London for the actual fourth,” she said, laughing. “Don’t waste the irony on me.”
Allison Bartella, 30, a publicist in Brooklyn, also finally says no to a vacation she never loved.
“It feels kind of like New Year’s Eve in the summer,” she said. “Expectations are high, and they are usually not met.”
“The food is always out in the sun, it’s hot out there, and you’re freaking out about random fireworks in the street, and it just doesn’t look like you’d like it to be,” she said.
This year, she’ll be based in New York City, where she plans to go to a bar on the Lower East Side.
Some Americans are trying to come to terms with the fact that the Fourth of July is no longer a unifying, sectarian day.
Conner Moskowitz, 28, a Phoenix-based content creator, decided to make a video series asking strangers if they would celebrate Independence Day.
“It’s got everything from ‘America is the greatest country in the world, and we should celebrate the American dream,’ to ‘This country has a lot to work on, America isn’t very free, and I just don’t feel like celebrating.’” I honestly didn’t expect to get such a wide variety. From the answers I got.”
“I think a lot of people think America is no longer for everyone, and so it’s not an all-inclusive vacation,” he said.
Post videos on Instagram And Tik TokSome of them received thousands of comments. “A lot of people were like, ‘Why are you asking such a question because it sounds like a ‘duh’ thing, but I was like, ‘Watch the videos and you’ll see.'”
As for Mrs. Tapp, she understands that turning down the Fourth of July is new and difficult for some people. She said, “I know a lot of people who feel they have to be in all the action, they have to show patriotism just to fit in or not make people angry with them.” “A lot of people get really defensive when you say you don’t want to celebrate the Fourth of July because they think you don’t care about the soldiers who died or all the things that went into making this country.”
So she took out a file video on Instagram and TikTok to remind her followers that they don’t have to party if they don’t want to, even if they feel pressured.
“It’s a very controversial holiday now,” she said, explaining why she did it. “We all have to decide for ourselves if we want to party.”
There are still many traditions, new and old. the Nathan’s Hot Dog Competition will be crowned champion, and Walt Disney World Red, white and blue fireworks are displayed in many of his parks. Melania Trump released a batch of NFTs in honor of Independence Day named 1776 group.
Isaac Norb, 40, who works in marketing in Seattle, understands why some people are feeling down about America this year. “It’s very difficult to get into the Fourth of July because of the Supreme Court decisions,” he said. “They also made some tough decisions around the same time last year, which made it very difficult to celebrate.”
But he’s always loved the Fourth of July—”It’s actually called the Fourth of July-Isaac,” he says with a laugh—and feels the same way this year. “It’s about celebrating your community and the community you create with the people around you,” he said.
for him, It is not the time to celebrate a particular holiday. “It’s about celebrating everyone in the country,” he said, “and it should be for everyone.”