Kids & Family
'Wellesley Underground' Responds to Controversial July 4th Chris Rock Tweet
The self-proclaimed "Alternative Alum Mag for (Wo)men Who Will Make a Difference in the World" shot back after the famous actor Tweeted a sarcastic comment about the origins of America's Independence Day.
July 4 is an annual celebration of America’s freedom from British rule. The day, however, does not take into account America’s past as a nation in which slavery existed, according to Chris Rock.
The famous actor stirred up widespread backlash after he tweeted: “Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren't free but I'm sure they enjoyed fireworks” on July 4.
Wellesley Underground, a Wellesley College-based online magazine, posted a response to Rock’s tweet in a July 5 post, which took an excerpt from a response by author and political commentator Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry:
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“ ‘Our founding is an unlikely narrative of young men so inspired by an age of ideas that they threw off the yoke of colonialism and founded a free nation. Men who were, embarrassingly, imperfect. The land on which they formed this union was stolen. The hands which with they built this nation were enslaved. The women who birthed the citizens of the nation were second-class. But all of this is OUR story…’ ”
The blog was posted by, and includes commentary from, recent Wellesley College graduate Dominique Hazzard.
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