As the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary of independence, I find myself questioning what exactly we should be celebrating. As I began writing this post, the Supreme Court had just issued its decision in Louisiana v. Callais. A majority of extreme conservative justices basically killed one of the most significant achievements of the civil rights movement: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The majority's decision sparked an immediate inferno of racism, which spread across Southern states who renewed redistricting sprees aimed at removing African-Americans from political office.
And then there is the Doe decision, which is even worse. The majority upehld President Trump's termination of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians. TPS enabled migrants from these countries to come to the United States because of the humanitarian or natural crises in their countries. And, while the protected status may be temporary, those crises have a seemingly permanent nature to them. Indeed, the United States currently advises its citizens against traveling to either Haiti or Syria because of the situation on the ground in both countries. Yet, the conservative majority on the Court cleared the way for 350,000 Haitians to be forcibly returned to a country largely controlled by gangs with little to no central government and thousands of Syrians being forced back to a country where violence and insecurity remains a day-to-day reality.
And, there is also the growing disparity in the United States between the obscenely wealthy and everyone else. The billionaires have seized control of major media outlets, corrupting their journalistic work, and feeding false narratives to all of us. They seek to fuel distrust, hatred and intolerance to divide eveery one else. There are many divisions: the middle class v. the poor, citizens v. immigrants, everyone v. migrants, etc. Those divisions are necessary to ensure that the wealthy remain at the top, using the economic and governmental systems to enlarge their wealth, while exploiting our inner weaknesses to keep us divided, deprived, and, for most, on the verge of being destitute.
None of the above is worth celebrating. Our country was founded two and one-half centuries ago on the principles that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have had 250 years to get to the point where our country put those noble principles into action, not just for all men, but all women, not just for all white people, but for every person regardless of race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability ... for every one. We made great strides toward that goal over the 250 years, but we never reached it. And, now, we are being pulled backward, threatening all of the progress that we have made during that time.
So, I will not celebrate the United States as it presently stands on its 250th anniversary. Instead, on July 4, 2026, I am going to stand up and celebrate what has truly deserves to be celebrated on this occasion:
Us. The People.
I am celebrating the diversity of each and every one of us; and, I will do so on an equal and inclusive basis.
So, who exactly are we as a people? The best way to answer that question is perhaps to draw inspiration from Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He hosts the show Finding Your Roots, which has aired on PBS for more than twelve seasons. Professor Gates helps influential people learn more about their ancestors. He do so in very compelling ways, weaving the narrative with research and historical records. So, if Professor Gates were to tell the story of ordinary American people as a group, how would he do it?
Perhaps Professor Gates's starting point would be something along the lines of a DNA test. Fortunately, our country performs such a test on a yearly basis, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau. And, for 2025, the test revealed our country to be approximately 57.5% White, 20.0% Latino, 13.7% African-American, 6.7% Asian, 1.4% Native American (including Alaskan Native), and 0.3% Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Those who live in the United State embody diversity.
Professor Gates would not just end the story there. He would go on to explain what the research and historical records tells us about our past. He would note that we, collectively as a people, have some very interesting stories. Each story is a piece of our shared heritage. Some of those stories have been forgotten. Others have been repressed. They all remain a part of our common narrative. Each story -- good or bad, happy or sad -- has an equal right to be told, passed along from generation to generation.
I have tried, in my own very small way with this blog, to recount some of those stories that revolve around food. I have organized my small effort as qwhat I call my Federal Project Number One. The blog posts revolve around a recipe, but come with underlying culinary and cultural history told (as best I can) from the perspective of the people themselves. This project truly began before I even knew I was undertaking the effort. It all started when I was searching for the origin of barbecue in the United States. That search led me to Wesley Jones, a free person who was interviewed about his life as a slave. He recounted how, as a slave working in South Carolina, he prepared barbecue for the white plantation class. I gained a perspective that I never came across while watching barbecue shows on television or reading cookbooks.
That was just the beginning. I spent more time searching for the stories about who we are as Americans, usually through the lens of food. The effort picked up a lot of steam as the current adminsitration began to whitewash our history, seeking to erase the struggles and accomplishments of marginalized and oppressed peoples over the past 250 years. My increased focus has taught me more about the history of the United States than I was ever taught from elementary school through college.
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There are other names that could be lost to history, like Joe Goe Nue, who opened one of the first Chinese-owned grocery stores in the Mississippi delta. He, along with other Chinese immigrants, opened these stores, which became a lifeline to African Americans who suffered under the discrimination of the post-Civil War south. They also brought their culture and cuisine to the area, melding Chinese recipes with local ingredients to create dishes like grocery roast pork.
These stories are as just American as any of the stories about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Abraham Lincoln. The reason is simple: the American people are not defined by their leaders, but by the masses. And those masses are far more diverse now than they have ever been. Diversity has never been a weakness for us. It has always been our strength, empowering us both as a country and a people. Until very recently, the United States had been a place that drew people from all walks of life and all parts of the world to its shores. Indeed, the Census Bureau determined that nearly 15.9% of the people living in this country are "non-citizens," a term the Census Bureau defines to include people who are lawful permanent residents, immigrants, and those who are undocumented. That magnetism brought with it a range of knowledge and perspective that not only enabled the United States to be a leader in so many fields, but enabled so many people to find and make better lives for themselves and their loved ones.
All of this is at risk because the current U.S. government, fueled by the white supremacist Make America Great Again ideology, is trying to close off our country to everyone (except, it seems white Afrikaaners).
If we continue to look back, as those in the MAGA movement are trying to force us to do, then we will only see a time when our country was anything but great: decades (and, indeed, centuries) of discrimination, oppression, and violence against anyone who was not a property-owning, Christian, white male. By contrast, if we look forward, we will see a future that we can create ourselves. A future in which the United States becomes a better country. Not just for a particular group of people and not just for those who are at the top. But a better country for everyone, especially the 99% who make everything in this country work and for whom the American dream is increasingly beyond their reach.
Rather than looking backward with the MAGA (Make America Great Again) "movement," I would greatly prefer a more forward looking movement. One that mobilizes around making the United States a better country. In making the United States a better country, we would accept our past shortcomings, address them, and work to make the United States to ensure that every person, regardless of citizenship, be treated humanely, with dignity and respect. We would ensure that every person is treated equally, with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, with an equal opportunity, regardless of class, race, gender, or any other characteristic. We would open our country to those who wish to join in this effort to make the United States better than it has been for the past 250 years.
So, on this 250th anniversary, I will celebrate us -- all of us, the diverse people who live in this country -- and what we have done, are doing now, and will do to make the United States a better country for everyone.
PEACE.
P.S.: The opening and final pictures of this post were created using AI.
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