Not interested in the usual patriotic hoopla that accompanies the 4th of July? Looking to celebrate the day with your fellow rabble rousers? Opportunities abound this year.

Say It Out Loud!
Starting at noon, former NYCLU Director and Public Advocate candidate Norman Siegel will lead his annual reading of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights at Strawberry Fields near the W. 72nd St. entrance to Central Park. The Granny Peace Brigade will be on hand as well…If you only have time to savor one constitutional amendment, Siegel will join Green Party mayoral candidate Reverend Billy Talen and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir for a First Amend-a-thon at 4 p.m. at the North Plaza of Union Square. The event will feature a drum circle gospel salsa sing–along of the guarantee of our freedom in the US Constitution. Times Up will lead a “Know Your Rights Ride” afterward.

Overthrowing a Modern-Day Tyranny
Tired of living under they tyranny of the private health insurance industry? Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan, ACT-UP, Private Healthcare Insurance Must Go Coalition and Healthcare-Now would like for the people of the United States to gain their independence from the private interests that control their access to healthcare once and for all by creating a single payer national healthcare plan. They will be leafleting the new, pedestrian friendly Times Square from 2-4 p.m. Around 4 p.m., they will head west looking for a good site near the Hudson River where they can watch this year’s fireworks show. For recent coverage of the single payer healthcare movement in The Indypendent, click here.

Free the Animals
July 4th is no holiday for the animals that are imprisoned and experimented on by Huntingdon Life Sciences. Animal rights activists will be holding a potluck picnic at 2 p.m. Near the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park. Later, there will be a demonstration outside the Whole Foods store housed inside the Time Warner Building.

Afro-Punk Festival
BAM’s annual Afro Punk Festival started Friday and continues through July 10. Four movies will be screened on July 4: The Anderson Platoon with Fred Hampton Interviews (2 p.m.), Crips and Bloods: Made in America (4:30 p.m.), Afro-Saxons ( 6:50 p.m.) and Attica (9:15). Based on eyewitness accounts, this Emmy award-winning documentary is a riveting, realistic recreation of 1971’s prison revolt at New York’s Attica correctional facility in which inmates demanding better food and living conditions took 38 guards hostage. BAM is located at 30 Lafayette St. in Fort Greene. For directions, click here.

4th on Fire!
4th on Fire: A fundraiser at Surreal Estate Presented by Left Turn Magazine, the Brecht Forum, and Surreal Estate Concert!
Look for some great music at this cookout/dance party featuring Rebel Diaz, Earth Driver, Mahina Movement, Young Lady Koba and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra. There will also be fun and games with an Uncle Sam Pinata, a ‘not dog’ eating contest and a make your flag arts and crafts table. The party will be held at the Surreal Estate space at 15 Thames in Bushwick near the Morgan St. L stop. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Happy July 5th!

The 4th of July will be celebrated a day late at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. There will be a lecture on Black emancipation in New York at 4 p.m. followed by a performance by BLK JKS, a South African rock band will perform Sunday at 6 p.m.  There’s a suggested donation of $5. To find out more about the historic Black community of Weeksville and why it celebrates the 4th of July a day late, see this article in The Indypendent by Jessica Lee.