Robert Reid holds a flag during a Juneteenth celebration at the African Burying Ground Memorial Park Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) As we celebrate the 161st anniversary of the end of slavery today on Juneteenth, and the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding on the Fourth of July, we need to look back honestly on the triumphs and tragedies of American history and focus on the history yet to be made.
I am grateful that the beautiful words of the Declaration of Independence — “that all men are created equal” with a right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” — at long last apply to me as a Black American and as a woman. At the same time, I don’t believe in a fairy-tale version of American history. None of us should. We need to know the truth about our country.
I know my African American ancestors were enslaved and brutally deprived of all human rights. And I know racial segregation and other discrimination against Black people remained legal for 100 years after emancipation. I also know that systemic racial discrimination against Black people continues today, although to a far lesser degree than in the distant past.
In addition, I know that American women of all races were denied the right to vote until 1920 and that sex discrimination in employment and many other areas was legal and widespread for most of American history. Like racism, sexism has diminished but has not vanished.
At the same time, I know that Native Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Jews, Muslims, my fellow Catholics and people of other ethnicities and faiths have also been subjected to discrimination in our country. We shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
The ugly parts of our past aren’t mere footnotes in the American story. They are as much a part of our history as the establishment of our democracy, the creation of our successful economy, the defeat of Nazi tyranny in World War II by brave members of our military and the amazing discoveries by Americans in science and medicine that have saved lives and changed the world.
We should certainly celebrate the many great parts of our nation’s past on America’s 250th anniversary with pride, pageantry and patriotism. But we should also acknowledge the worst parts of American history. After all, we can’t learn from America’s failings if we ignore or whitewash them.
On Juneteenth and on America’s 250th anniversary, we should also remember that Black history is an integral part of American history. Black people who were denied equal rights for all their lives labored in farm fields and factories, built America’s towns and cities, developed inventions and innovations that helped create our modern world and transformed our arts and culture in many ways.
Black Americans also fought valiantly to defend our nation in every war America has waged, with many suffering grievous injuries or losing their lives to defend freedoms they were not allowed to enjoy.
My own father fought in the Korean War, only to return home to Louisiana to find he still had to use water fountains and restrooms labeled “colored” and sit in the “colored” section of movie theaters. He was denied jobs because of his race and had to send his children (including me) to segregated schools.
As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wisely said in 1968, less than a week before he was tragically assassinated: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
But as Dr. King knew, the arc doesn’t bend by itself. We need to give it a strong shove, as he and other heroes of the Civil Rights, women’s rights and gay and transgender rights movements did — sometimes paying a terrible price by being beaten, jailed and even murdered.
We don’t have to risk our lives to bend the arc today. But we need to vote for good candidates, pitch in to volunteer with groups working to solve the ills that still plague our nation and reach out to fellow Americans to bridge our divisions.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has severely undermined the ability of Black voters to change America for the better in a series of decisions essentially destroying the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The most recent of these decisions was handed down in April and is allowing Republican-controlled state and local governments to carve up majority-Black congressional, state legislative, and local government districts to weaken Black political power.
Black Americans and our allies should respond by voting in record numbers in the November midterm elections to stop the rollback of our rights. We must overcome.
Juneteenth and America’s 250th anniversary must be more than celebrations of what America has accomplished. These two federal holidays must also be days of reckoning on what more we and future generations must do to build a more just and equitable nation.
American history, after all, is a never-ending journey. None of us will be alive 250 years from now, but it’s a safe bet that Americans not yet born will be continuing what the Constitution calls the quest “to form a more perfect Union.” All men and women who believe in the goodness of our great nation should wish them well.
Donna Brazile is a political strategist, a contributor to ABC News and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. She is the author of “Hacks: Inside the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.“
Add as preferred source on Google Tags 250th anniversary of U.S. independence America 250 anti-Muslim antisemitism in the united states Black history civil rights movement Declaration of Independence Democratic NAtional Committee Donald Trump Donna Brazile Fourth of July Jim Crow Juneteenth Louisana v. Callais Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nazi Tyranny racism in the united states redistricting battles Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Supreme Court U.S. Constitution Voting Rights Act of 1965 women's rightsCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Opinions - Education News
See All
Opinions - Education Want better civic education? Improve college teaching. by Jonathan Zimmerman, opinion contributor 1 day ago Opinions - Education / 1 day ago 
