07/04/2026
I’m sharing this post because it speaks to the uncomfortableness of what some of us may be dealing with but unsure of how to put it in words. I encourage you to read the full blog that is linked in the post, but I wanted to share a quote from it from the president of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Side note- I’ve been there, it was a very humbling experience.
“July 4th is not the birthday of a perfect country. It is the birthday of an idea big enough to keep improving. Two hundred and fifty years in, the most American thing we can do is celebrate what we’ve built and refuse to stop building.
That’s what the founders asked of us. We owe it to the founders and the next 250 years to do so.”
As America marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, we celebrate a nation built on a powerful promise: that all people are created equal and endowed with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But true patriotism requires honesty. From Frederick Douglass to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., generations of Americans have challenged the nation to live up to its founding ideals — not to reject them, but to fulfill them.
At the National Civil Rights Museum, we trace that ongoing journey: the work of making America’s promise real for every person, in every generation.
This July 4th, we celebrate what has been built — and recommit to the work still ahead.
Read the full blog by Dr. Russ Wigginton, President of the National Civil Rights Museum.
https://civilrightsmuseum.org/blog/250-years-the-promise-and-the-work-patriotism-means-honesty-at-americas-semiquincentennial/
