“The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but, we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present rulers.” These words by Frederick Douglass are in his Fourth of July speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” that he gave on July 5, 1852. 173 years later, Black people can make this same claim: this country of freedom does not recognize how it stills oppresses Black people. Douglass’ word choice of “rulers” was intentional in his speech because he wanted to show how the nation that fought for freedom from a distant sovereign ruler turned around and enslaved Black people in that very same country. Today we are faced with an extraordinary level of the lack of freedom that continues to exist beyond our reach.
Douglass’ speech highlights both the weight of the great American contradiction of being a land of liberty that rules over its subjects and that this contradiction has been ongoing for centuries.
Imagine not only this country playing in our faces by acting like things will change but never will, but also telling us to celebrate a freedom that has been promised to us for centuries! Black people still are not free. This lack of freedom is one of many reasons why we might go watch some fireworks, pull up at the cookout, throw something on the grill, but not in celebration of Independence Day. I was motivated to write this article to highlight why Black people do not celebrate July 4th. Not only were we not free in 1776 when this country was celebrating liberty but we still dealing with the same ol ish today.
We are tired of saying R.I.P. I need to show love to Kawanza “KJ” Beaty. On July 4, 2015, he was killed by Newport News Police Detective Rand Gibson Jr. I worked with the family to get justice. Here is an interview I did with them almost a year after the fatal killing.
The autopsy showed that he was shot in the back of the head near his left ear. The back of his head! What threat is anyone facing the other way. In my work with the family, I noticed multiple discrepancies between what the media reported and what actually happened. The interview above addresses numerous accounts of dis/misinformation. The most important aspect of misinformation to address is the shotgun. He did not own a shotgun and it is highly likely that it was placed at the scene.
This story highlights the importance of having Black independently owned media. All of the mainstream stories intentionally paint the picture that KJ was acting violently the morning of July 4th. It is important to recognize how the media creates false depictions and share inaccurate information. If we do not recognize this, then we would think that an innocent Black man was truly guilty. Here is another story that I wrote back in 2016 that provides information directly from the family.
It is 10 years later and the aftermath of his murder is devastating. Unfortunately, Clyde Dargan is no longer with us, RIP Clyde. Melisa has been fighting an uphill battle ever since July 4, 2015. Every year when the country goes into celebration mode, July 4th is a reminder of an early morning phone call that her son was shot by the police. We did not receive justice. Just like every other police killing, the commonwealth attorney, Howard Gwynn, found no wrongdoing in the killing.
If you would like to give to Melisa Dargan, her Cash App is $Wisdom315.
I spoke with Melisa and asked if she would like to share anything. She shared that Detective Gibson was involved in another police killing in Tennessee. Of course it is difficult to find information about the story because, as I already mentioned, the news either covers up stories or provide inaccurate information. When I asked if she was aware of any new stories, she responded: “There was a lady that was talking to me but I lost contact once they threatened her for contacting me.” I searched to see if I could find any stories about Randy Gibson’s police shooting in Tennessee and found a story similar to KJ’s. In this story, the reporter indicated that the person who was killed, “allegedly produced a gun.” How does one “produce a gun”? This is the same way that KJ produced a “shotgun.”
Melisa Dargan did offer some encouraging words. In addition to telling me about the other shooting, she encouraged “families to never stop fighting.” She went on to say: “Even if we don’t get justice for our family member, I will never stop fighting for others.”
10 years later and another Black mother is carrying the grief of burying her own son. Her son was murdered by the very institution that was supposed to protect him. Yet in 2025, knowing that policing in this country started with the slave patrols, we expect them to continue to do what they have been doing for centuries now. We expect this country where Thomas Jefferson once made the statement, an “Empire for liberty,” will continue to do exactly that, offer liberty to White people while building its empire and continually oppressing Blacks.
10 years after KJ’s murder at the hands of the Newport News Police department is a sobering reminder of how distance freedom is from Black people. This is the same distance “between this platform and the slave plantation,” from which Douglass escaped and spoke about in his speech. It was and still “is considerable—and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the
latter to the former, are by no means slight.” Black people still ain’t free.
In this country, on July 4th, we will have fireworks, cookouts, beaches, the pool, celebrations, “happy 4th” greetings, and no freedom for Black people.