Yesterday, we celebrated the 225th anniversary of our declaration of our freedom from England. The war itself started beforehand, and my native State of New Hampshire actually made its declaration a year earlier, but on July 4, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration basically telling where King George can go. We also told him why! Americans celebrate this day in many different ways. Traditions including gathering with your family and having a BBQ. Many see parades and enjoy fireworks displays. My celebration of our liberty took many forms. It also caused me to pause and consider what is happening to the liberties Americans once cherished.
I went with a good friend from Taiwan (Chen Huiyen) to Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. I had also arranged to meet a couple of friends from Mainland China who live in Griffin (south of Atlanta) at the Park. When we walked into the park, Huiyen and I saw several members of the Atlanta Beat at the food court. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love the sport of soccer and have been involved with it for most of my life. I saw Emily Burt and chatted with her briefly. I then saw Sun Wen (my favorite player in the world) pass by. I lived in her home town for 13 months and chatted with her about soccer and Shanghai. It was so cool. I also met and chatted with other players on two occassions before the parade. You never know who you will meet at a parade.
Huiyen and I then went to the parade route to get a good place from which to see the parade. We found a good place on Centennial Olympic Park Drive and settled in the watch the proceedings. All of the sudden, as the parade was to begin, it began to pour. Don't let it be said Georgians would allow a little downpour to spoil a good party. Hardly anyone left as the rain was pouring, and the parade got off as scheduled.
Atlanta's Salute to America Parade is the largest Independence Day parade and because of that, large numbers of dignitaries were present. Lt. Shane Osborne, a Georgia native and pilot of the plane that collided with the Chinese jet in the South China Sea and landed in China's Hainan Province, was the grand marshall of the parade. The applause for Georgia's native son was gratifying. His heroics honor all Americans and our great nation. We may agree or disagree with our politicians and their policies, but it is nice to see Americans getting behind those who choose to defend our great nation.
There were several politicians at this event. Democratic Congressional Representatives John Lewis (5th district) and Cynthia McKinney (4th district), Republican Congressional Representatives John Linder (from our own 11th district) and Bobb Barr (7th district), as well as Democratic U.S. Senator Max Cleland. The reaction of some people when Congressman Barr rolled by was interesting, and indicative of what some people expect of government. I was surrounded by large numbers of Black people at the time in the parade when Barr came by. A couple of them had threatened me already earlier during the parade. When Barr passed by, I cheered him loudly and gave him a double thumbs up. I like Barr because he is someone who stands up for our Constitutional rights and fights for our right to keep what we earn. The Black people around me loudly booed him. One even yelled at me something about money (I didn't hear clearly what he said). I then made a couple of remarks to my friend in Chinese. The Black woman who threatened me earlier (and who is in sore need of a diet) in the parade then rose up again, yelled at me and thought I was insulting her. I felt this was instructive. Black people constantly threaten if you say something they don't like, and if you do something they don't like. It has happened to me on numerous occasions. The people present also seem to think that it is their God given right to have government steal the money of those of us who work, and then have it given to them. I think they see good men like Bob Barr as a threat to that.
The rest of the parade went by with some continued harassment from the Black couple behind me, but other than that, it was uneventful. The Beat and Silverbacks were in the parade, as well as the Falcons cheerleaders, and representatives from the Braves and Hawks. There were also recording artists and actors participating in the festivities.
Following the parade, I met with my Chinese friends who were also enjoying the festivities. We talked about what happened earlier and they told me that they were afraid of Black people. They don't like them. I wonder why? There were several reasons, but that is a topic for another day.
At least the rain had stopped by this point and we were able to enjoy a nice afternoon at the park. Later on, as we were waiting for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to begin, we met two other groups of people from Mainland China, enjoying the festivities. We talked a bit about a variety of topics and I shared with them some of our traditions during our Guoqing Jie.
Unfortunately, during the concert, it started raining again. Huiyen and I agreed to return to Athens. It turned out that there were no fireworks. Despite that, my friend enjoyed her first Independence Day in the United States. My other Chinese friends enjoyed themselves. I also enjoyed myself. I also received another object lesson in what we are fighting in order to preserve the precious liberties that the very Founding Fathers we celebrated were fighting for 225 years ago.