Flags, fireworks and freedom may come to mind on July Fourth. But others in the U.S. don鈥檛 view America鈥檚 250th anniversary as a celebration.
For some Native American families, the country鈥檚 complicated past shapes how they see the holiday.
At a recent rally hosted by the Next250 coalition, hundreds of people gathered in McPherson Square in D.C. to mark the upcoming anniversary. Johnson Taylor, from the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma and the Southern Ute Tribe of Colorado, performed on stage with his family.
He told the crowd that Native American people 鈥渉aven鈥檛 been here for 250 years鈥� and said 鈥渨e were here 200 million years before,鈥� which drew an uproar of cheers from the crowd.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 cook out, we didn鈥檛 celebrate what was going on,鈥� Taylor said after leaving the stage. 鈥淲hen I was little, I didn鈥檛 even know what Fourth of July was. I thought it was all about fireworks.鈥�
He said his understanding of the holiday changed as he got older and learned more about what his people endured, including hearing from his parents about their history and realizing that what he was taught in school was 鈥渨hat the government wanted us to learn.鈥�
Taylor鈥檚 wife, Katy Isennock, who is from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, said July Fourth 鈥渉as nothing to do with our culture.鈥�
Isennock said she believes efforts to remove parts of America鈥檚 history from museums and textbooks have left out important facts.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to let people know the true history of America, and how it was actually built, and it was built on the backs of our people, African American people, and they want to erase that.鈥�
Isennock said she homeschools their children, teaching them the history not taught in schools. And by showing up at events like this, they鈥檙e sharing those stories 鈥� and their culture 鈥� with anyone who鈥檚 willing to listen.
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