John,

These profound words from Frederick Douglass's speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" echo just as powerfully today as when he first spoke them in 1852.

They reflect the complicated reality Black people continue to face each Independence Day.

We’re supposed to celebrate freedom on days when we aren’t free…

That’s why today, we’re excited to launch our pledge to take up the baton for real freedom in partnership with Get Free. Click here to watch Get Free’s video to learn more!

As we approach America's 250th anniversary in 2026, a white supremacist faction across the country seeks to rewrite history, erase the struggles of Black, Indigenous, and immigrant communities, and silence the truths of our past. They promote a false narrative to justify ongoing inequality, systemic racism, and oppression, contradicting the very freedoms they claim to celebrate.

Whose freedom and independence are we truly commemorating? The freedoms built upon the exploitation and oppression of enslaved Black people? The liberties still unequally applied to Black communities today? If there is anything worth celebrating, it is the historic resilience, strength, and beauty Black people continually demonstrate in our ongoing fight for genuine liberation.

This holiday begs a crucial question: What kind of country do we want to be on our 250th anniversary next year?

Today, we must choose: Will we allow a powerful few to erase our history and progress, or will we courageously continue the work of our ancestors, fighting for reparations, truth, change, and Black liberation?

Sign our pledge right now to continue the work that our abolitionist and civil rights ancestors started and turn the tide by the 4th of July, 2026. Together we are committing to:

• Finally make our country reckon with the ongoing harms from our past, right historic wrongs, and repair the damage done to Black and indigenous communities.
• Heal our communities and honor the freedom fighters who paved the way by delivering Black, immigrant, and Indigenous dreams.
• Build a country that meets its ideals and where freedom and equality are for all, no matter our races, backgrounds, or genders.

Add your name today to reckon with our full history and create an America we want to celebrate, one that truly lives up to its ideals.

In unwavering solidarity,

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter imagines a world where Black people across the diaspora thrive, experience joy, and are not defined by their struggles. In pursuing liberation, we envision a future fully divested from police, prisons, and all punishment paradigms and which invests in justice, joy, and culture. Email is the most important way we keep in touch with our supporters. But we know there's a lot going on. If you’d like to receive fewer emails, you can do so by clicking here.

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