Every year since 1974, it has been an American tradition for orchestras to play Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" on the Fourth of July. Until this year.

The rousing 15-minute-long "solemn overture" celebrates the heroism of people defending their country and crescendos in a volley of cannon fire. It is an excellent song to accompany a fireworks display.

However, it was not to be this year. "Celebrating a Russian military victory is too sensitive a topic right now," the director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra said.

Instead of cannon fire, gunshots rang out at America's birthday celebrations. Gunshots rang out in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, where a mass shooter fired 70 times from atop a local shop, killing seven parade spectators and injuring over 30 more. Gunshots rang out in Oakland, California, where a man fired his gun in the air outside the baseball stadium and struck five people watching the fireworks show inside. Gunshots rang out in Shreveport, Louisiana, where passengers in three cars exchanged fire in a parking lot, resulting in one death and three injuries. Across the country, over 200 deaths by gunshot were documented over the holiday weekend.

Perhaps the cannon fire of the Russian composition was unnecessary.

The United States is locked in the throes of massive social contradictions and economic upheaval as it celebrates its 246th birthday. Crime is rising; inflation is hitting records; trust in institutions is dropping like a rock. The Supreme Court is overturning American rights one after another. The previous President of the United States said that election results should not matter. Americans can't go to school, shopping, or even to a parade celebrating a national holiday without the possibility of being gunned down.

Behind the chaos is a debate about what kind of country and society America should be. White conservative Christians are scared to see America's demographics change because of immigration and social forces. Fox News hosts talk about white people being "replaced," and gun-wielding terrorists attack black neighborhoods and churches. 

The reactionaries who voted for Donald Trump to make America "great" "again" were cheering on the high court's decision, made possible by Trump-appointed justices, to ban women from having the right to get an abortion. They want the court to strip gay people of the right to marry next and go after minority rights, immigrants' rights, and women's rights in other areas.

They also want the power to carry guns everywhere and face no inconvenience when buying or transporting guns. This is why mass shootings never result in anything being done. 

Conversely, radical left-wing activists make unreasonable demands of moderate Americans. Some go so far as to call for tearing down American culture. Tearing down statues of Confederates who attacked the United States is reasonable. But a small mob has torn down statues of American presidents like Ulysses S. Grant, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. 

When marching against police brutality, they also burnt down city blocks and shouted at people at restaurants. Anyone who didn't support their proposal to "defund the police" was denounced as a racist.

Now we come to what happened on the Fourth. The "1812 Overture" was "canceled" for being Russian. As with other reprimands of artists and public figures, this cancellation lacked nuance and ignored context. It was written to commemorate the resistance to Napoleon's invading forces. The battle took place on Russian soil, with Russian men and women defending their homeland.

The present conflict is an entirely different one and should be evaluated differently. Regardless, one's position on the matter cannot change the reality of 210 years ago.

There have been other unfair attacks on Russians. Wimbledon banned Russian tennis players. One university in Italy canceled a course on Dostoyevsky before changing its mind. 

It is the very definition of xenophobia to ban all things Russian; a tradition carried on for too long. 

Mitchell Blatt is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

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