America The Beautiful (In Its Imperfection)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” – From the United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776; Emphasis Mine.

This has been a hard year for Lady Liberty. It’s also been a hard year for Lady Justice. It’s been a hard year for me. It’s probably been a hard year for you. It’s been a hard year for all of us. But we’re going to continue to resist. We will obstruct.

So my America is a thousand languages, it’s multiple shades of skin color. It’s amazingly different foods from different countries from my incredible neighbors who – like my family – immigrated here, and like my family, many as refugees.

Either you understand that America isn’t white and Christian, or you don’t understand history: where we’ve come from, and where we’re going.

People fly the confederate flag and raise the Nazi salute as if they’re free speech issues, instead of a continuation of a war. But we’re going to move forward. We’re going to drag this country forward. We’ll punch Nazis and Fascists if we have to…but we’re going to get there.

Because this is an incredibly beautiful country, built on genocide, slavery, and the bloodshed of a revolutionary and civil war, and while we haven’t known peace