4th of July

As I Sit at Home

As I sit at home tonight, the mayor of New York, Mamdani, is speaking. His message is for new Americans — for people who came here looking for the same thing my ancestors did: a chance. Safety. Dignity. A future.

Then a song plays from Bishop Talbert Swan’s post. It’s about being Black in America. The words hit my chest hard. The weariness, the pride, the demand to be seen as human. I just bow my head and pray.

I pray for more of an America that doesn’t divide people of color. An America that doesn’t pit Black against Brown, immigrant against citizen, new against old. We’ve had enough of that. Enough of being told there’s only room for one of us at the table. Enough of leaders who win by making us afraid of each other.

I’ve lived the other side of the American promise. Criminalization. Mental health crises with no help. Credit destroyed by survival. Housing denied. I know what it feels like when the system is built to hold you back. I also know what it feels like when someone opens a door — a case manager, a judge who listens, a program that says “you qualify.”

That’s the America I pray for.

I pray for better leadership in the White House. Not leadership that looks back and says “make it like it was.” Too many of us were never included in that “was.” I pray for leadership that fights for all Americans. That doesn’t hold back, but moves forward. That works for old and new Americans — for the Black family that’s been here 400 years and the family that got here 4 months ago.

Mamdani’s message tonight reminded me: New Americans aren’t a threat to my freedom. They’re a reminder of what freedom is supposed to mean. Bishop Swan’s song reminded me: Being Black in America is still work. Still protest. Still prayer.

So I sit here and I listen. And I pray. And I get ready to do the work again tomorrow.

Because the America I want isn’t behind us. It’s ahead of us — if we choose it. If we vote for it. If we demand leaders who don’t divide us, but bind us together.

That’s the country I’m bowing my head for tonight.

"Cathrynmharris, /,