Some words to celebrate the spirit of the 4th.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [sic.] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

As I was walkin’ - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin’
But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

“This Land is Your Land” Woodie Guthrie, 1940

They thought that they would always be able to treat us like animals, that we would never know how to defend ourselves. But, we also have rights. We have rights from the same laws that they have rights. We have the same rights.

I decided to speak tonight because I was in the plaza the day of the massacre. Today I am giving my testimony in public. We have to tell everything that happened to us in the past so that we won’t have fear in the future.

I am still in pain. I have such sorrow. I lost my mother, my father, my grandmother, and I was only twelve. The people who did this to us, they live here with their families in tranquility. That is why I say tonight;

I AM NOT AFRAID!

Maria Maquin, granddaughter of a Mayan activist gunned down by the Guatemalan Army in 1978