“I’m not interested in patriotism. I’m interested in justice.”

July 4, 2026, marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, signifying the rejection of British rule over the thirteen American colonies. In Washington DC., President Donald Trump and the America 250 Task Force spearheaded “Freedom 250,” a public-private partnership initiative aimed at engaging Americans in celebrating the nation’s founding. According to the task force, the initiative exists in order to “inspire a renewed love for American history, encourage citizens to experience the beauty of our country, and ignite a spirit of adventure and innovation to help our nation succeed for the next 250 years.” Holiday programming included government buildings at home and abroad being lit up in red, white, and blue, and The Great American State Fair taking place on the National Mall. 

In Los Angeles, the Fourth of July weekend is typically quiet during the day, as many residents leave town. By night, fireworks light up the sky into the early morning hours. But for many community organizers and those dedicated to the fight for liberation, the Fourth of July is not a time of celebration. It is a time of introspection and mourning.

“This 250th anniversary feels like a nightmare,” said Youth Climate Strike executive director Sim Bilal in an interview with Knock LA. “I don’t celebrate a country that was built on genocide, ecocide, forced removal, and slavery of my ancestors, and that continues to fund genocides and coups abroad while its own people can’t afford to live. I’m not interested in patriotism. I’m interested in justice.”

June 2026 marked one year of escalated state violence against immigrants and migrants throughout Los Angeles County. As of May, 60,000 people are currently held in ICE detention centers across the nation. Over 205,000 children have experienced a parent being taken by ICE or Customs and Border Patrol agents since the start of Trump’s second administration. 

“Antifa” has been put on trial through cases like that of the Prairieland defendants, some of whom were sentenced up to 100 years in prison for engaging in a protest against ICE. The spike in fascism is shaping a lot of material conditions throughout Los Angeles. New challenges are on the rise for organizers laboring for community self-defense and antifascism. 

“I mostly organize with women, femmes, migrants, and people in care work and the responsibilities folks are taking on are immense,” said LA-based educator, scholar, author, and community organizer Ndindi Kitonga in an interview. “Many of us are facing increasing rents, economic precarity, serious health challenges, and poor mental hygiene all while also having to take care of our seniors and children, maintain households.”

Kelly*, a member of the steering committee for the Community Self Defense Coalition, echoed those sentiments. When asked about how organizing has changed under the second Trump regime, she said circumstances are significantly different than in the past. 

“There is a real imminent threat of state persecution,” Kelly told Knock LA. “I think for a lot of folks before, it was looming and people were still preparing. But today, the surveillance state is exponentially more violent and oppressive.”

In response, community organizers have adapted their strategies. Bilal noted that at this point in history, tactical changes are present in the work toward liberation and community defense. 

“There’s more intergenerational organizing, more coalition work, more willingness to take risks,” he said. “The attacks have pushed us to get sharper, bolder, and more strategic.”

For Kitonga, the targeted federal attacks on migrants, racialized communities, and queer people have shifted her work toward more solution-oriented and system-building practices. In order to support the folks impacted by Trump’s regime both through literal and political violence, new and alternative systems must be constructed.

“I’ve had to become more creative, more flexible,” she said. “We’ve taken on more community self-defense actions, are organizing vendor buyouts, and trying to connect our trans siblings with resources.”

Despite increasingly aggressive federal immigration enforcement and an increasing cost of living over the past year, many organizers say Los Angeles has experienced significant shifts in its collective consciousness. In contrast to Trump’s portrayal of this moment to spectators as the “golden age for America,” many argue that this means freedom for only those of a certain race, gender, ethnicity, and class. 

“No government or higher-up is going to save us,” said Kitonga. “That clarity has pushed many to become involved in mutual aid, sweep defense, ICE watch, and creating their own alternative networks of care, reciprocity, and love.”

According to Kelly, the second Trump administration has extinguished many illusions in regard to the federal government, but the propaganda machine remains running. She said she sees one of her primary responsibilities as naming discrepancies and contradictions that exist between the image of what the federal government calls the American dream and the reality of the American empire’s violence. In the context of harm done to immigrants and migrants, Kelly said it is imperative for organizers to disallow normalization. 

“Over the last [few] weeks we’ve seen a dramatic increase in kidnappings. There is not a lot of media about it,” she said to Knock LA. “People, for all intents and purposes, are acting as though things are back to normal. There is a lot of cognitive dissonance happening, and I think that is unique to the United States. People are trying to pretend things are normal and they’re not.” 

When Trump addressed the crowd on July 4 at the National Mall and proclaimed “the American dream is back,” his remarks emphasized the goal of dominance and power over resistance to his reign. And while the American dream may be considered an honorable goal by the Trump regime, Los Angeles community organizers revealed that this is not their north star. 

“My north star is liberation for my son, for my students, for our people” Kelly said. “I visualize it as a giant dam or a big gate that we’re pounding against and on the other side is everything that we deserve and that we need. I truly believe that the earth and our communities have everything they need to survive. We just need to get rid of this oppressive, leeching system that capitalists and the elitist[s] are hurting us with by extracting our resources and extracting our labor.”

While grueling, the past year of community defense work has also brought meaningful victories even if they were not always visible or publicized. Kelly recounted a time that a child protected  an entire apartment building from an ICE operation because he knew not to open the door for the masked agents outside. 

“This child saved an unknown amount of people from being kidnapped,” she said. “It really goes to show that anyone and everyone has the ability to participate in defending their neighbor.” 

For Kelly, there is no option besides total liberation. Anything less would be insufficient. 

“When hope is difficult to come by, I think about my ancestors and I use spite,” she told Knock LA. “There is no way we can let them win. There is so much beautiful light in our community that we have to win.”

Organizers say Los Angeles has become both a blueprint and a testing ground for progressive movements across the nation. If the growth of mutual aid networks, increased neighborhood defense against ICE, and defending the rights of vulnerable community members are any indication, the city is building a new model that represents collective care and safety. While Washington DC’s 250th anniversary theatrics conveyed a message rooted in nationalism and heightened fascism, organizers in the Los Angeles community vowed to continue doing what they have proven to do with excellence: to dream and labor in service of a better world. 

*name has been changed to protect the individual’s privacy

Rosalind Jones (she/they) is a queer, Los Angeles-based writer and community organizer. She is a contributor for the online publication Knock LA, a founding member of the social justice organization Community Solidarity Project, and authors a Substack titled ‘Another World is Inevitable’. Rosalind holds a BA in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College and a certification in Creative Writing from the UCLA Extension.

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