Marcia Stepanek

As we commemorate the 4th of July in a nation where democracy is buckling under an attack from the inside, I have chosen to remind myself that for the last five years of traveling nonstop across the country to talk about the 1619 Project, I have met Americans from every walk of life who have been so kind, so generous, so willing to learn and discuss and sit in the discomfort of the truths of this nation’s founding and what it was built on, and who believe that in confronting that truth, we can build the nation of our highest ideals. A woman I met in Connecticut gave me this brooch she was wearing when I admired it and when I said no, just tell me where to purchase it, told me, “My spirit is telling me to give this to you.” This man in Easton, Maryland, proudly asked me to autograph his 1619 jersey and has put his own money and resources towards building a rec center and educational facility for the Black youth of his town. And this kind stranger sent me a note, worried about how tired I looked on a television program and encouraged me to take care of myself. THIS is the America I choose to remember today. THIS I believe is the majority. THESE are the people we must gather to fight to build a country that we all deserve. This is the beauty of our multiracial democracy, of our country, the potential never fully realized. This is the America that we must fight for today.