On the Fourth of July we celebrate the United States as an exceptional country — at least, we used to. It wasn’t just us who saw America this way: When American leaders spoke, the world listened. Why? We were seen as leaders of the free world with the strongest economy and a vibrant democracy. We bragged that we were a nation of immigrants, united in common purpose with respect for each other. We were also more religious than other developed countries.
Not all of this was true, of course. The land we live on was stolen from Native Americans, who we subjected to genocide. Much of our economy was built on slavery and the exploitation of immigrants. Racism has endured and each new wave of immigrants has been greeted by prejudice from those whose only distinction was having arrived earlier.
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