At least six people were killed in a shooting during an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb that shook Monday’s celebrations across the United States and the High Court on January 6 hearings along with abortions and guns The decisions shook an already turbulent country. Rebellion
The latest mass shooting occurred as the nation tried to find a reason to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together. It was supposed to be a day to get off work, come to parades, eat hot dogs and burgers at backyard barbecues, and gather under a canopy of stars and set off fireworks.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rottering said: “As we come together to celebrate community and freedom, we are mourning the tragic loss of life and grappling with the horror that was brought upon us.” “
The parade started around 10 am but was abruptly stopped 10 minutes after the shots were fired. Hundreds of Highland Park parade-goers – some apparently covered in blood – fled the parade route, leaving behind chairs, baby strollers and blankets. The authorities took a person of interest into custody on Monday evening.
President Joe Biden, celebrating 246 years of America’s independence on Monday, sought to reassure a nation that is tired and turbulent by recent events.
“In recent days, there has been reason to think that this country is moving backwards, that freedoms are waning, that the rights we had protected are no longer there,” Biden told military families and the administration. Said officials enjoying a picnic on the South Lawn. of the White House. “I know it can be exhausting and upsetting, but tonight I want you to know that we are going to get through all of this.”
Biden said that many people see the country as divided, but I believe that we are more united than divided.
He tweeted about the shooting earlier in the day, calling it “senseless gun violence that has again hurt an American community this Independence Day.”
“I will not stop fighting the gun violence epidemic,” the president tweeted.
These are uncertain times: an economic recession lurks, and the Highland Park shooting will weigh on a national psyche already raw from mass shootings such as those recently seen in a Texas elementary school and a New York supermarket. went.
Sharp social and political divisions have also been laid bare by recent Supreme Court decisions overturning the constitutional right to abortion and a New York law limiting people from carrying guns in public.
Still, many had reason to gather and celebrate amid the easing of the first in three years. coronavirus Caution.
Nathan’s famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest is back at its traditional location in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood after two years due to the pandemic.
“It’s beautiful to be back here,” Joey “Jaws” Chestnut told ESPN after winning the men’s competition by downing 63 hot dogs and buns — even as he momentarily held a defender, who Arrived on stage in chokehold. Mickey Sudo cut 40 francs to win the women’s event.
Color displays were set to illuminate the night sky from Chicago to Dallas, from New York to Seattle. However, others, especially in the drought-prone and wildfire-prone areas of the West, will be left out.
Officials said fireworks were suspected to be the reason behind the fire in Centerville, Utah, which led to the evacuation of dozens of homes and the cancellation of some of its Independence Day events.
It was a different case in Phoenix, which is again going without fireworks—not because of pandemic or fire concerns but because of supply-chain issues.
In emotional ceremonies across the country, some took the oath of citizenship, making them eligible to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
During a ceremony for naturalized citizens held at Mount Vernon, the Virginia home of George Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen originally told 52 people from 42 different countries that they were essential to building a strong labor force.
“Immigrants strengthen our workforce, and in the process, help drive the resilience and vitality of our economy,” Yellen said in prepared remarks for Monday’s event.
For many, the 4th of July was also a chance to set aside political differences and celebrate unity, marking the revolution that led to the longest-lived democracy in history.
“There’s always something to divide or unite us,” says Eli Merritt, a political historian at Vanderbilt University whose forthcoming book traces the horrific founding of the United States.
But he sees the January 6 hearing as cause for hope for an investigation into the storming of the US Capitol last year, an opportunity to rally behind democratic institutions. Even though not all Americans or their elected representatives agree with the committee’s work, Merritt is pleased with the fact that it is at least somewhat bipartisan.
“Moral courage as a place of hope for Americans, a willingness to stand up for what is right and truth in spite of negative consequences for themselves,” he said. “It is an essential glue of constitutional democracy.”
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