Ask yourself the question, What to a Slave is the 4th of July?  We ask that the city council and mayor show a "decent respect for the opinions of mankind" this and every 4th of July anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, weekend, by "declaring the causes which have impelled them to the separation" from Great Britain and launching the Revolutionary war.  Include the redacted paragraph from Jefferson's original rough draft denouncing the slave trade as "cruel war on human nature itself".    These are facts that many people don't know, and the city leaders are culpable for promoting this ignorance, by unconstitutionally prohibiting political speech at the festival.   

Take the festival stage, and hold a public reading.  If necessary, moderate and MC the ensuing debates and civic conversations.   If the festival organizers continue to forbid historic memorials and civic statements on the public Waterfront, then the organizers should revoke their permit and offer them another weekend instead.  Perhaps Juneteenth, and take some rhythm in your blues, since that's really where its at.  Schedule a set for a reading of Frederick Douglass's speech.  Make a Land Acknowledgement to the Indigenous nations, and invite their living descendents representatives to make a statement.   Solicit Jewish and secular historians' responsa to Jefferson's natural law Deism and to Douglass's christian dominionist progressivism.   Tolerate the cheering and the booing, and lets listen to eachother: the protestors, and patriots, instead of fearing and hating each other to the point of drowning it all out with conspicuous leisure and consumerism.  Else heat waves, Riots, and Pat-Riots, are the news, and you've got the Portland Hipster White Liberal Blues.  

Provide a booth area for historical, civic, and political organizations, who all should stipulate to standing U.S. case law interpreting the 1st ammendment to the Constitution, which prohibit threats, obscenity, incitement, and fighting words.  Currently, the city is in violation of the law, by authorizing the festival organizers to prohibit political speech and free assembly at the main civic event in Portland on July 4th.  The District Attorney (currently Mike Schmidt) ought to take the stage and teach the law to the general public, else he isn't worth his salary.  Teaching is prior to enforcement.  And if he doesn't value the law why should anyone else?  If he doesn't uphold the principles life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, why should anyone else?  

Read Jefferson's ORIGINAL ROUGH DRAFT of the declaration, with his denunciation of King George III for "waging cruel war on human nature itself," in the clause removed by the continental congress from the final version, "violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemispere, or to incure miserable death in their transportation hither. This piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the "Christian king" of Great Britain."  

Frederick Douglass affirmed the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence as "saving principles", and the "ringbolt of your nations destiny." He stated, "stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost."  Although they are not exactly the word of God, We the undersigned intend to (more-or-less) stand by them.   Douglass excoriated the politicians of his day, 1852, for utter hypocrisy in betraying the principles of 1776, through their tolerance and maintenance of the institution of slavery.  His rebuke could similarly apply to those who maintain our institutions of ignorance-through-entertainment today.   

COMMENTARY and OPINION (signatories do not necessarily endorse the below)

Are we using the afro-american blues to enable ignoring of cultural histories with food, drink, and music while we detach from reality by dancing to the reminiscences of someone else's pain?  Or if we're celebrating here, shouldn't we change the name to the "rhythm & blues festival"?  Which would present the natural question:  "What to a slave is the 4th of July?"  I think we all should ask ourselves that question, before going to another 4th of July Waterfront Blues Festival.  And why not Juneteenth?  Why should the rhthym & blues be the soundtrack for yet another firework spectacle of military bravado?  And why does the City of Portland, in partnership with the Festival sponsors, enforce a policy of "no civics, no history, no political action" among the vendor booths at the festival? 

Why are civic leaders AWOL in declaring our independence from the Empire?  In order to teach us to forget?  Have they no "decent respect for the opinions of mankind"?  Are they genuinely unable to "declare the causes?"  Is it mere incompetence, or is their bad faith involved?  Is this done to numb the anti-establishment anger by distracting the youth with sex, drugs, and rock n'roll like they did in the 60's?  To obscure the possible conclusion that we've become the new empire?    To overwhelm the threat of jingoistic nationalism from any remaining or emergent "patriots" with a flood of liberal idiocy?  To perpetuate the hipster consumerism that exploits the naivete of youth and impoverishes the petite-bourgeousie, while pretending to benefit the houseless by keeping them someplace separate with anyone else who can't afford the $40-$100 ticket?   Whatever the reason for this policy, it is culpably ignorant and officially stupid.  Therefore, we call all musicians, music lovers, and civically engaged adults to boycott the event until they meet our demands.  And instead, read the documents for yourself until the civic leaders do, and give a cash contribution to an indigenous community directly, or to the houseless neighbors.  Be sober and vigilant, and prepare your minds for action.

Why? Because Truth Matters and history is still with us, both the good and the bad.  Let's be direct.  Independance from the British Empire was declared, however, the war of independance still had to be fought. Why? Because Your Life Matters, and the tyranny of absolutist monarchy and christian dominionism, was and still is bad.  (fascism, by the way, is also bad, and anarcho-communism is not an adequate solution at macro-economic scale to the problems of political democracy, although signatories may differ on their relative demerits).  

By signing this petition, we call on organizers of the Waterfront musical festival to move the 2022 and future year events to a different weekend, before July 4th and after Juneteenth, and you might as well call it "Waterfront Rhythym & Blues Festival", since thats actually where its at.  If they keep it on the weekend of Independence day, we demand that they stage public readings of the Declaration and other historic speeches and documents, by civic leaders at every intermission between the acts.    

We petition the city council to revoke the permit for the 4th of July Waterfront Blues Festival for this and every future year, as long ignorance remains their official policy.

We call for no more fireworks over the river in future years. We should remember that these represent bombs, and we've been training people from childhood to ignore history, celebrate war, and ritually act it out.  No more polluting the air and the river with "shock and awe" and "amazing spectaculars" of military bravado.

We recommend:

We don't recommend fireworks on the plaza, but it is slightly more realistic, than on the river.  But they should permitted on the plaza as long as the the Spanish-American soldier statue remains.  If our political religion is war, and thats what we memorialize on our civic "holy day" instead of memorializing our civic declaration, then we should leave the river out of it, and just have some old-fashioned romanesque idolatry in front of the federal courthouse, in order to remind us of the horrors and glory in an authentic way.  (we don't recommend this either, and its sort of what happened last summer in 2020, and you could of course avoid a repeat of tis by simply removing the soldier statue from the plaza) 

By the way, regardless of your opinion of "blm inc.", we affirm that black LIVES do, in fact, MATTER, and furthermore, YOUR LIFE MATTERS.

Here is some non-binding analysis that may be of interest, but should not be construed as unanimous opinion of the signatories:

Independance day should be either a solemn assembly in the Portland plaza, and if not, it might as well be another pitched battle between rival demes, tribes, street gangs, and revolutionary factions like it was in 2020. I recommend the former, but the status quo ante was bad. The brazen ignorance enforced on liberal hipsters by their governing elites, is almost the same as the faux-patriotism of the St. Paul rodeo and parade, which is apparently aimed at much the same goal of avoidance and denial. 

If solemn rememberance on "Declaration Day" doesn't satisfy your appetite for celebration of independance from an imperial Britain, then celebrate instead on the anniversary of the **Paris Peace Conference, September 3rd, 1783**, after the war of independence was won, and do it not with the negro blues, but with yankee doodle dandy, and ethnic new englander jigs, reels, contra squares, and waltzes.  Better yet, do it next year on the **last Monday in May Civil War Memorial Day**, when, some 600K - 1MM casualties later, the Union army could ensure that the enslaved African-Americans could have their **Juneteenth Black independance day**.  But if you're gonna sing halleluja on memorial day, please substitute psalm 145 or thereafter, instead of the "battle hymn of the republic" or "the night they drove old dixie down", or L.C's take on it.  And since France is our first and oldest ally, We should also solemnly observe **July 14th Bastille Day**, but definitely not as the **Fete de France**, which the French government ought to fix instead to **August 26th 1779, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen**.

Let the revolutionaries among us confront the fact of what their political ancestors the Jacobins gave us, with the guillotine and the terror: they gave us the Directory and eventually the Napoleonic empire. As Aristotle predicted, mob democracy leads to tyranny. But don't blame the antifascist youth for making that mistake, teacher, pastor, mom and dad, as long as you and your civic leaders refuse to learn the lesson yourselves. The empire strikes back, and **November 11th, 1918 Armistice day** to end WWI. But, as we know, WWII, the "cold war", the "terror", and the war on it. We also have the war on crime, the war on poverty, and the war on drugs, all of which tend to increase the very problems for which they promote "fighting" as a solution. Assuming that bad faith is involved, that is the purpose of this political cult, which I am hereby deconstructing. The purpose is (was) not to solve social problems, but to maintain fundamental inequities through vicarious violence and conspicuous leisure, as we worship power in the ritual re-enactment of our national religion, which is still basically that of Rome.

If you're "at peace" with that, I declare justice on you. I invite you to surrender, and stand with us, while we declare poverty on war, and a boycott on celebrations of it's declaration.

And that, friends, first nations, Americans, and countrymen, is why we celebrate not on the 4th of July, and nor do we ever forget. 

Some further suggestions not implied by signing:
Indigenous American's want their land back, but anglo-American liberals find this impractical.  You and I, however, could make a financial contribution to an indigenous group in lieu of the $40-$100 ticket. Charity or reparations? You decide. Also, time declaration is fitting in addition to a land declaration.  From a lunatic perspective, the "Declaration Day" is a moveable feast that will occur (this year) on 24th of the Rose Moon of Wy'east, which is the chaldean Tammuz, and the hebrew 4th month from that of spring, Aviv, the barley ripening.  That is the natural way.   The Americans fixed the day instead on the 4th of the Roman month of July, which is not actually a "month", but rather a fiction of their astrologers.  

Instead of insisting that they either assimilate to our culture, or else disappear, let's learn from Indigenous nations, Chaldeans, and Jews (Also from Chinese and from Indians who followed lunisolar calendars)   We need some lunatic mental health as much as they need their cultural timekeeping back.  And time acknowledgement, along with a land acknowledgement, is fitting for events such as this when we celebrate conquest by singing the blues.

Thomas Jefferson wanted the new government were to take action immediately to abolish slavery,  (Although he clearly lacked the courage of his convictions). He predicted that civil war would be the inevitable result of failure to do so.  We should pay all the more attention his words which were erased, because he was in the right about this.  Douglass was in the right that we should listen.  And the "right wing" of our political establishment, is as usual, like the left wing, in the wrong.