On this Fourth of July, I find myself in a place of reflection—not celebration. I look back on the history of this country not through the lens of fireworks and parades, but through the truth I was never taught.
We came to these shores as explorers, breaking away from the British Empire with lofty ideals of liberty and self-governance. But from the moment we arrived, rather than extending a hand to the native peoples of this land, we labeled them “savages” and began their systematic displacement and extermination. What followed was a genocide that lasted not just decades—but centuries. And in truth, it hasn’t ended. It has only taken different forms.
Then came the enslavement of Africans, justified again by calling them “less than,” “other,” “savages.” For hundreds of years, people were bought, sold, brutalized, and denied their humanity—all in pursuit of building a “more perfect union.” That union was forged in blood, cruelty, and contradiction.
The Civil War—our supposed moral reckoning—wasn’t just a battle over slavery. It was a nation tearing itself apart. Sometimes I wonder, had the South succeeded and collapsed under the weight of its own evil institution, would we have spared ourselves further centuries of oppression? After all, most of Europe had already abolished slavery by then. We lagged behind, clinging to barbarism while calling ourselves enlightened.
We stole the land of Indigenous peoples and forced them into reservations—if they survived the massacres led by men like President Andrew Jackson, who is somehow still honored today. As we expanded westward under the banner of Manifest Destiny, we cared nothing for the lives we crushed along the way. We called it progress. In truth, it was conquest.
For 150 years, only white men held power, owned land, and cast votes. Black men could technically vote after the Civil War, but only if they owned land—and we know who held the deeds. Systemic inequality was built into the foundation of this nation, and it has never been fully dismantled.
I was indoctrinated, like so many others, in a sanitized version of American history. In school, we learned about heroes, not horrors. Triumphs, not tragedies. We were told we were the greatest nation in the world—but only through deeper education, lived experience, and decades of watching the truth unfold have I come to realize: we were sold a myth.
We have waged egregious wars abroad, not for freedom but for power. Civil rights for Black Americans took nearly 200 years to formally begin—and they remain incomplete to this day. We have treated immigrants from every background—Irish, Italian, Polish, Hispanic—as less-than, as threats, as scapegoats. The cycle repeats with each generation, fueled by fear and ignorance.
And now, I watch in horror as a fascist-leaning demagogue rises to power, echoing the rhetoric and ambitions of history’s darkest figures. A man with the arrogance of Mussolini and the cruelty of Hitler, who feeds off division and drapes himself in the flag while undermining everything it supposedly stands for.
So I ask, what made us great? A fleeting four years in the 1940s when we fought against fascism abroad, even while practicing racial segregation at home?
Today, we fall behind the world in education, healthcare, infant mortality, civil rights, environmental protection, and basic quality of life. We lead only in military spending and incarceration.
So again, I ask: Was it a mirage—or was it all a lie? Because if this is what the greatest country in the world looks like, then maybe greatness was never real—only promised.
Further Reading: Was It a Mirage—or All a Lie?
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- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. A groundbreaking alternative telling of U.S. history from the perspective of the oppressed, not the oppressors. Available at https://civilheresy.com/A People\’s History of the United States
- Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi. A definitive history of racist ideas in America—where they came from, how they evolved, and how they endure. Available at https://civilheresy.com/Stamped from the Beginning
- Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. A devastating critique of how American history is misrepresented in education—and what we’re not told. Available at https://civilheresy.com/Lies My Teacher Told Me
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