America: 250 Years Later.
I was born and raised in the United States of America for almost 45 years. This year is the 250th year anniversary of the existence of the United States of America. I have the total right to write and analyze my nation of America in a fair, accurate fashion without sugarcoating reality. Now, America is the most powerful nation in human history, the most diverse nation in human history (people of every race, color, nationality, sex, and background live in America for centuries), and we are among the most resilient nations in human history. Many Americans have done the right thing to establish legitimate inventions, to stand up for human rights (in the civil rights, women's rights, labor rights, environmental rights movements, etc.) and shown compassion in the world. Also, many Americans have done evil like enacting slavery, oppression a against BIPOC people in general (BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of color), lynching, advancing xenophobia plus sexism, and other atrocities. How do we reconcile the contradiction of America having this mixed legacy of goodness and wickedness? You just show the truth as it is, and you should inspire America to be better than the past and present. America is about Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth playing baseball. America is about skiing and hiking among hills and mountains. America deals with courage involving the Freedom Riders and anti-Vietnam War activists expressing themselves. The food we eat, the slang that we exhibit, and the honor shown to soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice relate to America too. It is important to note that African Americans culturally have a heavy influence in ultimate American culture from music, fashion, inventions, and social justice matters. We have a long way to go to witness America living up to the lofty, sacrosanct ideals of democracy, liberty, equality, and justice. Yet, we have every God given right to fight for those principles constructively in witnessing a future America filled with glory and honor.
The History of America
It is important to know about America's history after 250 years of its existence. I can't list all of the details of America's story as that would take an infinite amount of pages, but I can give a concise explanation of American history to show human beings the truth. Long ago, America existed, and the first humans who lived in America were the Native Americans. They are a people, related genetically to the Siberians, who traveled from Siberia to North America by the end of the last major Ice Age at ca. 15,000 - 30,000 years ago via the Bering Land Bridge (Beringia). Now, the Native American tribes had diverse cultures from the Powhatan, Nottoway, Cheyenne, Navaho, Shawnee, etc. They spread across two continents with advanced civilizations. There was the Olmec culture with advanced mathematics, the Maya with a calendar system, The Aztec, the Mound Culture of North America, the Pueblo, etc. These areas of America flourished with tons of people. Hawaii had Polynesian and Pacific Islander human beings too. As time went on, the Native Americans grew infrastructure on various lands, had differences, and worshipped in a multiple number of creeds. Over the millennia, persons of color always lived in the Americas. Then, the Europeans came into North America by ca. 1000 A.D. via the Vikings who came to LAnse aux Meadows (in Newfoundland, Canada). The Vikings had a short-lived encounter with Native Americans. Centuries later; more European explorers (including pirates) and imperialists came to America from the 1400s to the 1500s. Many of the Europeans had diverse motivations. Some wanted religious freedom. Others want thievery, genocide, and economic exploitation of innocent human life. These European imperialists and slave owners were the oppressors of my black ancestors. Many of the European imperialists savagery enslaved Africans and Native Americans.
The European imperialists stole tons of lands in the Americas, and they founded the Maafa for economic exploitation to benefit a few of the oligarchy. They did it for racist reasons as well. Africans and Native Americans heroically fought back against the imperialists. It is true that traitorous Native Americans and traitorous Africans were involved in the genocide of innocent human beings who were Native Americans and Africans. It is important to note that European racists planned and organized the Maafa. This crisis of democracy now in 2026 has been caused policies to from the one percent (in the financial monarchical oligarchy). America was filled with colonies, Native American tribes, and Africans being free and enslaved by 1700. Great Britain became the leading Empire after the French and Indian War. After that, the colonists were angered at the British control of lands and excessive laws directed to them. These laws were the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, etc. Some American colonists wanted to establish independence, some wanted to stay within the British Empire (or they were Loyalists), and the rest were neutral. The American Revolutionary War started when the British and colonial forces fought in Massachusetts. The war was a near victory for the Redcoats, but America won by guerilla warfare, resiliency, and help from other nations (like Spain, France, the Dutch, etc.). The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. That date represented the start of the United States of America. America has the contradiction of the words of the Declaration of Independence mentioning that "all men are created equal," but black people were slaves plus other groups of people were denied basic human rights. Back in the 1700s, Native Americans, women, Latinos, and other minorities were being oppressed. The Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783.
George Washington was elected the First President of the United States. He was a general, and he wanted a strong federal government to handle national affairs. There were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Federalists were right to desire a strong federal government, and the Anti-Federalists were right to want the Bill of Rights to act as a check to the powers of the federal government too. From 1789 to 1861, America experienced the antebellum period. This time saw the expansion of American lands (in many cases these lands were stolen and conquered by many Americans against the indigenous people). Many colonists started to migrate to the Midwest and the West. Slave revolts increased by the1700s and 1800s by Nat Turner, Gabriel Posser, etc. The Underground Railroad helped to free slaves from tyranny and bondage. Harriet Tubman (who was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland where many of my distant cousins live at) was part of the movement to free many slaves. In America by the 1800s, cities and towns grew with schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, factories, universities, sporting places, and other institutions. Presidents rose into power. Some were more progressive and others were more conservative. America became involved in new, controversial wars like the War of 1812 (against the British Empire) and the Mexican American War (that caused Texas to be part of the Union. Many leaders in Texas wanted slavery while Mexico banned slavery back then). Women promoted equality in the suffrage movement by the 19th century. Slavery was a major issue in 19th century America. Some states freed slaves, and other states refused to do so. The political, economic, and social tensions among the North and the South along with slavery caused the American Civil War. The U.S. Civil War started by the South illegally bombing Fort Sumter in 1861. Southern states seceded including my home state of Virginia. The Union won the battles of the war by having more people, more resources, and more factories across the nation. Heroes of every color in the Union Army helped to defeat the Confederate enemy. Black people played a key role in the Confederate defeat especially. President Abraham Lincoln, Union generals, soldiers, allies, and other people led the Union to have the victory. Harriet Tubman led a battle in South Carolina too. The Confederacy (whose own documents admitted that they seceded to promote slavery and promote the myth of white supremacy) lost the U.S. Civil War in 1865. The American Civil War was over. Reconstruction existed with black Americans having political office locally, statewide, and federally for the first time in American history. We saw the rise of the Klan and people fighting them. President Ulyssess S. Grant (who had imperfections) was right to support civil rights legislation. He was right to oppose the terrorism of the Klan. The Compromise of 1873 ended Reconstruction as we know it. Reconstruction was an experiment that increased self-determination and political power among the African American community. Reconstruction ended by both reactionary racist oligarchs of the South and the capitalist business class of the North coming to together to support the evil status quo of Jim Crow apartheid by 1873.
Jim Crow apartheid was formed in the 1800s and it exploded into the next level by the start of the 20th century. Jim Crow apartheid was plain terrorism filled with the lynching of black people, the rape of black people, and unjust discrimination against black Americans. It was a brutal system and groups formed like the NAACP (which grew from the Niagara Movement. Some of its origin founders were Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois), the National Association of Colored Women, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SNCC), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), etc. America saw the Progressive Movement of the early 20th century (not progressives of the 21st century) that sought housing reform, regulation of food including meat products, banning child labor, and making corporations accountable for their actions. Theodore Roosevelt helped to popularize the Progressive movement causes, and he was a liberal Republican on many issues (except on foreign policy issues). Back then, Republicans were heavily progressive ideologically, and Democrats were heavily conservative until the 1940s and the 1960s. Women fought for suffrage or voting rights being successful with the adoption of the 1920 19th Amendment given women the right to vote. WWI existed after competing European empires fought in Europe. At first, America was heavily isolationist, and then the Luistiana was attacked causing America to intervene in the war. The Americans were in the Allied Powers fighting the Central Powers (made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, etc.). This war of WWI saw tanks, planes, and other weapons like nerve gas used being a modern type of war. WWI was international, and the Allied Forces had a victory with heroism displayed by soldiers and nurses of all colors, including black people. Woodrow Wilson was President during WWI and promoted a form of internationalism, but Wilson was a stone cold racist who opposed persons of color to have independence from colonial/imperialistic domination. The Treaty of Versailles ended WWI. Pan-Africanism grew after WWI. We saw the Roaring Twenties with cultural development, jazz, excess spending, new clothing, and sports development. It was the time of massive wealth expansion and the financial systems had lax regulations. When the economy suffered a massive contraction of wealth, the Great Recession existed. The Great Recession caused long lines for people to get food, the ending of companies, and a desperation for solutions. President Herbert Hoover wanted to create conservative solutions to complicated economic porblems, but most Americans wanted a bolder solution. Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President for four terms in part because of his bold economically progressive policies. President FDR passed great progressive legislation from Social Security to the regulation of finacnial instutitons. He worked in the Allied Powers to help defeat the wicked Axis Powers (with Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, and their allies). World War II started in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. FDR went into the conflict by aiding the Allies with the Lend Lease program, and overtly after the 1941 cowardly attack on Pearl Harbor. FDR was not perfect as he refused to allow more Jewish people to come to America as refugees, he had a mixed civil rights record, and he supported the racist Japanese internment camp policies that harmed the lives of millions of Japanese human beings. World War II ended by 1945 after the fall of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo's empires. The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by atomic weapons, with support of PResident Truman, to be was unjust and a crime against humanity in my opinion. The Allies victory was righteous and sacrosanct.
After World War II, Cold War Presidents gained power. The United States of America experienced the lowest economic inequality in possibly human history from 1945 to 1975. We saw the growth of the middle class, rights given to people, and the poverty rate cut in half. Yet, everything wasn't peaches and cream with lynchings, sexism, xenophobia, and harm done to many minorities. That era of the Cold War witness many social movements growing to expand human rights. The people who opposed this expansion included people like George Wallace (until he apologized late in his life), Jim Clark, Harry Byrd, James Eastland Theodore Bilbo, etc. The American Civil Rights Movement was strong filled with people like Ella Baker, Dr. King, John Lewis. Mary White Ovington, Medgar Evers, Harry T. and Hariette Moore, Joyce Landner, Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson, and other people who protested, organized institutions, been in grassroots programs for change, and some of them advocated nonviolence plus self-defense. Without thier sacrifice, we wouldn't be here today buying what we want, living in where we want, and writing what we want on many platforms. There were the Women's Rights movement reaching its Second Wave from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. There were the Poor People's Campaign, the Chicano Movement, the Native American Rights Movement, the elderly rights movement, the Disabled Rights Movement, the LGBTQIA+ movement, the environmental rights movement, and other social movements. From Truman to Nixon, the country changed massively. We saw the Vietnam War being a disaster in America and in Vietnam. President Lyndon Baines Johnson was desperate for a U.S. victory, but the war was a stalemate until America withdrew from Vietnam (causing a North Vietnamese victory by 1975 when Gerald Ford was President). The nation witnessed stagflation and economic malaise by the 1970s. Ronald Reagan was the leader of the conservative movement by the late 1970s and causing the Conservative Movement to reach into new power in the 1980s. Reagan was very controversial and won 2 terms as America back in the day was much more conservative than it is now in 2026. Activists fought back against Reaganism too. During the two terms of Reagan, there was an expansion of Wall Street power, growth of the deficits, and Reagan was out of office by 1989. Geroge W. Bush was a center right President who lost in part by the recession, and Bill Clinton having political charisma to promise change to America. Bill Clinton had two terms being a center-left President witnessing the expansion of the Internet, technological advancements, the end of the Cold War, the dot com boom, and a reduction of the crime rate. There has been massive economic expansion, but many poor people suffered with the cuts to welfare via the Welfare Reform Act. Then, George W. Bush was President by 2001. George W. Bush had two terms being a Reagan conservative. He was controversial and protested by his Iraq War advocacy, his support of the Patriot Act, and his promotion of many reactionary policies. George W. Bush did a good thing by investing in anti-AIDS research in Africa having bipartisan support. With the massive recession of 2008, George W. Bush was in a low position. He passed a banker bailout law, but the bailout didn't extend that much to homeowners or the American people collectively. President Barack Obama promoted hope and change for America. He was elected in 2008 causing Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson to cry tears of joy. President Barack Obama had a legacy of both great accomplishments (like the Dodd-Frank Act, better relations with Cuba, the good parts of the Affordable Care Act, and the investments in HBCUs). Obama's biggest errors include his foreign policy being just as aggressive as the neo-cons with the Bush Jr. years. Donald Trump used the bigotry, racism, and xenophobia in some quarters of America to win the 2016 election. Trump started his campaign in 2015. Trump's first term saw Muslim bans, the racist attacks at Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, and the COVID-19 pandemic (that murdered over one million Americans and millions more worldwide). Trump's first term ended in 2021 when President Biden was inaugurated as President after the January 6th terrorist attack (which was done by MAGA terrorists). President Biden passed some of the most progressive legislation in American history benefiting black people, poor people, brown people, and people of every background. Later, President Biden had one term, and Trump had his 2nd term. Since 2025, people have experienced Trump doing even more egregious actions. In 2026, democracy is under threat hanging in the balance with an illegal Iran War, ICE being used domestically in airports and in our streets, detention centers, an expansion of voter suppression policies (with many states lowering voter times, limiting mail in voting, and other anti-voting policies), harm done to whitewash black museums, and an expansion of the executive branch (in violation of the separation of powers). Donald Trump's authoritarianism is nefarious, and people have every God-given right to peacefully dissent with Trumpism in 2026.
The Culture of America
The culture of the United States of America has been around for centuries, being the most diverse culture in all of human history. That is just the plain truth. First, it is important to describe cuisine as a very vital part of American culture. How we eat food and the diversity of food ingredients has changed the world in a myriad of positive ways. American cuisine has always been a mixture of foods found in American indigenously and foods from other continents. For example, foods like corn, beans, wild rice, sunflower, seeds, pecans cranberries, blueberries, corn, maple syrup, turkey, and pumpkins are found in North America. They are all found in our backyard. There are other foods that existed originally overseas, like apples, peaches, wheat, rice, onions, carrots, tea park, coffee, and tea. Tons of us love apple pie, sweet potato pie, and lemon pie. We enjoy oatmeal and other items like okra, jumbo, pizza, spaghetti, and other types of foods from different cultures globally. There have been television shows and movies that focus on food culture too, including those found on the Food Network. American culture readily embraces self-reliance, individualism, and independence. That means that many of us believe in using self-determination to achieve profound greatness. Also, this doesn't mean we should embrace or advance a form of selfish individualism, greed, and wicked behavior. There is also a role for community and collective power in enhancing society's general welfare. No one is an island.
Religion plays a large role in American society. About 81-83% of all Americans believe in God or a universal Spirit. Religion or spirituality shaped American society for centuries via social activists, the many Great Awakening, and more grassroots churches of the 21st century. Believers in God have always invoked God to stand up against slavery, to promote racial justice, to fight for voting rights, to agree with economic justice, to stand with immigrants, and support other social improvements in society. The largest religious group of people in America is Christians. The South is sometimes informally called the "Bible Belt" due to socially conservative evangelical Protestantism, which is a significant part of the region's culture. Christian church attendance across all denominations is generally higher there than the national average. This region is usually contrasted with the mainline Protestantism and Catholicism of the Northeast, the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, and the relatively secular West. The percentage of non-religious people is the highest in the northeastern and New England state of Vermont at 34%, compared to 6% in the Bible Belt state of Alabama. There are agnostics, atheists, and other followers of various creeds that exist in America too.
Language has a great deal to do with American culture. There are more than 300 languages spoken nationwide on a regular basis, and up to 800 languages spoken in New York City (besides English). English is spoken by most Americans, but other languages are spoken including languages spoken by indigenous peoples (with 150 living languages) Many xenophobes and bigots forget that the first people who came to America never spoke a syllable of English originally. There is no official language in American society. According to the 2000 census, there were nearly 30 million native speakers of Spanish in the United States. Spanish has official status in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, where it is the primary language spoken, and the state of New Mexico; numerous Spanish enclaves exist around the country as well. By 2017, 78.2 percent of Americans spoke English only, 13.4 Americans speak Spanish, 1.1 percent of Americans speak Chinese, and 7.3 percent of Americans speak other languages. There are regional differences in American culture. There are the Appalachia region stretches in the mountains from Georgia to West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania. We know of the major regions of the South, the Deep South, the Southwest, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, New England, the Mountain West, the Pacific West, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, other Caribbean places, and other regions with diverse cultures and traditions.
Sports represent a massive part of American culture. When the Super Bowl, MLB World Series, and the NBA Finals comes on televisions, millions of Americans and people worldwide watch these sporting events (they witness them in arenas too). By the 1800s, colleges were encouraged to focus on intramural sports, particularly track and field, and, in the late 1800s, American football. Physical education was incorporated into primary school curriculums in the 20th century. A typical baseball diamond as seen from the stadium in baseball stadiums constantly. Baseball is the oldest of the major American team sports. Professional baseball dates from 1869 and had no close rivals in popularity until the 1960s. Though baseball is no longer the most popular sport, it is still referred to as "the national pastime. "Ice hockey is the fourth-leading professional team sport. Always a mainstay of Great Lakes and New England-area culture, the sport gained tenuous footholds in regions like the American South since the early 1990s, as the National Hockey League pursued a policy of expansion. Soccer is very popular as a participation sport, particularly among youth, and the US national teams are competitive internationally. A twenty-six-team (with four more confirmed to be added within the next few years) professional league, Major League Soccer, plays from March to October, but its television audience and overall popularity lag behind other American professional sports. We, who are Americans, have been inspired by Hank Aaron hitting homeruns decades ago, Sam Darnold throwing passing in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks, Chloe Kim being involved in the Winter Olympics, Trinity Rodman playing soccer for the Washington Spirit of the NWSL, Jalen Hurts being a great NFL quarterback, Naphessa Collier playing excellent basketball, LeBron James showing great longevity in the NBA, the late Muhammad Ali being a champion of social causes, and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden being a track and field legend show us the power of American sports excellence. Relative to other parts of the world, the United States is unusually competitive in women's sports, a fact usually attributed to the Title IX anti-discrimination law, which requires most American colleges to give equal funding to men's and women's sports.
One of the major parts of American culture has been music. It has spread all across America and in the entire world. Much of the music of America was formed in America, and some came from other nations. Hip Hop, country, rock, gospel, jazz, pop, techno, soul, blues, and other music can be heard here plus globally. Music in America is extremely diverse. America has the largest music market with a total retail value of $4.9 billion in 2014. Without us African Americans, there is no modern American music today as we know it. The rhythmic and lyrical styles of black American music have been fundamental to American culture from the vocals of Aretha Franklin, the self reflection of Otis Redding, the creativity of Amerie, the emotional power of Whitney Houston, the elegance of Brandy, and to the songwriting genius of Stevie Wonder. Back in the day, many black people played banjos which came from the Motherland of Africa. The musical genres of jazz and blues represent the power of American music because the jazz and blues are ancestors of rock and roll and rhythm and blues (which was created in the 1940s). Country music developed in the 1920s. Jazz innovators like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were icons of music in general. We know that pioneers of rock and roll were Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, and other people in the 1950s. We know about how rock revolved into Metallica, the Eagles, Aerosmith, REM, etc. By the 1960s, Bob Dylan was a folk singer with songwriting skills. Pop music grown from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, etc. to Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. R&B music has been some of the greatest genres of music to describe the complex nature of love and relationships filled with Toni Braxton, Anita Baker, Brandy, Monica, SWV, Boyz II Men, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Co Co Jones, etc. The sounds from Motown, Stax Records, etc. has inspired the world showing American music at its finest. Hip Hop music has been some of the resilient genres in human history with musicians like Nas, Common, Jay Z, Megan Thee Stallion, Eminem, Lauryn Hill, Tupac, the Notorious B.I.G., and other artists like Arrested Development. We have pop superstars in the 2020s like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, etc. The annual Coachella music festival in California is one of the largest, most famous, and most profitable music festival in the United States and the world.
Cinema in America has been a huge cultural expression. The movie industry is not just based in the northern district of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Movie culture in the 21st century has been decentralized in many other cities from Atlanta, New York City, D.C., Chicago, Austin, Miami, etc. with independent projects, film festivals, and other programs to present cinema. The old school Hollywood cinema era was from 1913 to 1969. Also, early black American movie directors existed like Oscar Micheaux who funded and directed groundbreaking movies about race, economics, family, and other aspects of human existence. Frenchmen Auguste and Lousi Lumiere were involved in the birth of modern cinema. We know about movies like Orson Welles' Citizen Kane in 1941, Malcolm X in 1992, the Godfather in 1972, and Avatar in 2009. Today, since COVID-19 and the decline of theater attendance, we have more independent films in internet channels and other digital spaces that allow more actors and actresses to have access in means to express their talents to the world. Broadcasting is power in America has household ownership of television device in America is about 96.7 percent. The majority of all households in America have more than one set. There are media, channels, and ways where people can get information or just be entertained. People know and watch news from channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Newsnation, MS NOW, and other corporate channels. Today, podcasts, digital news channels, and other grassroots media services are very commonplace in our generation. There has been a high level of critically acclaimed television series in recent years. Americans also celebrate many holidays based on American history, Christian and other religions' traditions, and national celebrations like New Year's Day, the Dr. King holiday, President's Day, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Juneteenth (to celebrate freedom of black people from the evil of slavery), Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Fashion has always been part of the motif of the United States' tradition. Creativity is always part of American fashion styles. The blue jeans were popularized by the merchant Levi Strauss, a German Jewish immigrant in San Francisco. American teenagers and adults wear jeans today. They are worn by people of every age, social class, and race. They remain an American staple, and I wear jeans all of the time. Modern American fashion has been hybrid system from European, Asian, African, and other influences. Back in the colonial days, many colonists wore colonial clothes. As time went on, American fashion has been eclectic and influenced by sportswear too involving shirts, shoes, bras, sweaters, jersey, and other items. Athleisure is very commonplace because it can be comfortable, stylish, and functional. There has been more formal wear with conservative dresses, hats, pants, suits with ties, and other clothes. Designers like Ralph Lauren, Clavin Klein, Alexander Wang, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, Dapper Dan, Oscar de La Renta, Donna Karan, Diane von Furtsenberg, and other people like made brands popular form Abercombie and Fitch, Ecko, etc. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is famous for being a fashion style icon. The annual Met Gala ceremony in Manhattan, NYC has been a world prestigious fashion event that shows experimentation, unique fashion trends, and a lively atmosphere where celebrities and unsung people enjoy themselves. Fashion staples are found in Los Angles, New York City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Nashville, etc. The late Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams have innovated fashion too. The family structure in America in complicated. Contemporary American society has changed. The old school nuclear family (or a man and woman united in marriage with one or more biological children) has been in America back then and today. Yet, there are mixed families, single families, and other different types of family structures. There are single people too. Back in 1970, the nuclear family was 40.3 percent of Americans and in 2000, that percent is 24.1 percent. Single people rose from 5.2 percent to 9.9 percent. Between 40 and 60 percent of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. There has been a wide variety of housing prices too. Many upper middle-class people have moved into the suburbs. Some previous middle class neighborhoods have become upper middle class neighborhoods. Americans embrace volunteerism and philanthropy heavily. Involving drugs and alcohol, by the 19th century, alcohol was readily consumed with little to no laws in regulating them. Today, most Americans don't agree with banning alcohol outright but embrace legitimate regulations like banning children from drinking hardcore alcohol and dangerous drugs. There are debates on the regulation of drugs to this very day. There are many cultural institutions in America like the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Endowment of the Arts, and other historic places like The Grand Canyon, etc.
Much of the literature of America has been influenced by Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke including the political writings of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson. Also, American literature is diverse filled with authors who are black Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, and people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. We know of the late icon Toni Morrison who wrote about family, community, the black experience, and lessons about life in general. Mark Twain didn't just write stories about satire. He shown complex stories about American life back over a century ago in an honest, cogent fashion. Herman Melville and Ernest Hemingway has shown works about many subjects. Fiction and non-fictions have been shown by Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. From Edgar Allan Poe and Harriet Becher Stowe of the past and Donald Bogle, Ta-Naehisi Coates, Colson Whitehead, Jasmy Ward, and Roxane Gay of the present, American literature can be kind, provocative, and make us think about the philosophies of life.
A lot of people are confused about the concepts of race, ethnicity, and nationality. Back many years ago, we were taught about such things in sociology class or geography class. The term of race is a social construct that categorizes people by physical traits (like skin color, hair texture, face features, other types of phenotypes, etc.). In the United States of America by 2020, we have 12.4 percent black people, 61.6 percent white people, 6 percent Asian people, 1.1 percent Native Americans, 0.2 percent Pacific Islanders, 18.7 person Hispanic or Latinos. 10.2 percent of Americans are biracial or multiracial, and 8.4 percent are other races in America. The term of ethnicity is about a shared cultural heritage (like language, ancestry, etc.). That refers to a shared cultural heritage dealing with language, religion, traditions, and ancestry along with shared cultural experiences. The term of nationality is a legally assigned designation (either by birth or by naturalization) that you belong to a nation state being total citizenship. In America, we have a long history of a complex relationship among race, ethnicity, and nationality. In fact, my black ancestors were deprived of basic citizenship rights when they helped to build up America along with other people. As for me, my race is Black, my ethnicity is African American or Black American, and my nationality is American. Race is often imposed by society, ethnicity is often self-identified, and nationality is bestowed by a government. Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality are very diverse concepts. America has the most diverse cultural traditions in human history. For example, the Apollo in Harlem highlights some of the greatest African American cultural excellence in the world, we know about great black American STEM scholars, there is Chinese American contributions in America, we know of the historic contributions of other people (from the Irish Americans, Native Americans, Jewish Americans, Italian Americans, Latino Americans, Arabic Americans, and other people). We should treat all people with dignity and respect, regardless of one's background. That is part of the Golden Rule which I believe in wholeheartedly. One final point is to be made. All humans came from Africa, so I will always honor my black African heritage period.
Honoring American Heroes
The Challenges of America
For those of us who lived on this Earth for more than 40 years, we have a unique perspective of America. We have seen the storm or the rain the blessings of this nation too. There are many challenges in America as we all realize. There is massive economic inequality with some large corporations having governmental-like authorities that pollute our environment, discriminate (against black people, brown people, women, disabled people, and other human beings), and go out to receive record tax breaks from an authoritarian regime headed by Trump. Trump has been allowed by the Supreme Court to have near immunity. We still have institutional racism impacting the black community and other communities of color in dealing with health, education, economics, and other issues. We have serious problems with sexism (which is promoted heavily by the manosphere and other red pill extremists), xenophobia, and other prejudices that exist in American society. Still, America has not reached into true equality for all people. Equality doesn't mean that everyone is genetically identical. Even twins are not genetically identical. Equality precisely means that all people have equal worth, equal dignity, equal value, and have the God-given unalienable rights (of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) that should be never taken away. Equality means that all human beings should be treated with the same respect and dignity plus given excellent opportunities to achieve their own happiness or a successful life. I still have hope for America. As an older Millennial who has lived on this Earth for almost a half of a century, I hope. The reason is because of the working class and other people building this nation up, of the black activists defending black human rights, of the people opposing ICE's excessive behavior against immigrants, the people defending our voting rights (against the SAVE Act and other voter suppression policies), etc. I have great hope for the unsung heroes saving lives, growing charities, developing food drives, and protesting constantly for our sacrosanct democratic rights.
The Flora and Fauna of America
America to Me
As we conclude the chronicle of the 250 years of my nation of the United States of America, we all realize the miraculous birth and existence of America. America was born on July 4, 1776 (when the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Patriots), during the midst of the American Revolutionary War when the 10 colonies fought the imperialistic British Empire (that British Empire was filled with imperialism, slavery, racism, and capitalistic economic exploitation). The colonists (filled with the Sons of Liberty, farmer, soldiers, merchants, and human beings of every color) won the American Revolutionary war via guerilla warfare, help from other nations (like the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, etc.). From the Battles in the states of Massachusetts and New York to the Battle of Yorktown (in Virginia), America won the war filled with resiliency. Many Patriots supported the notorious evil of slavery and others didn't. Filled with both righteous people and wicked people, America's history has been filled with a profound paradox. That paradox is that while heroic Americans advanced legitimate social changes, cultural improvements, inventions, etc., America is also complicit in the sins of racism, slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, colonialism, xenophobia, sexism, etc. The U.S. Constitution caused America to function as a democratic Republic (that means that we don't have a direct democracy in every circumstance, but we do have a direct democracy in electing many House members, Senate members, referendums, etc.). What do we do about this paradox? We have to do 2 main things. One is that we should never sugarcoat American history (as some far right zealots advocate), and other thing that we must do is to fight for justice in America during the present and future. Losing hope is not an option when we desire future generations to live in a world that is better than today. America to me is about the battle between good and evil, the resiliency of humanity, the glory of righteousness that has inspired the world. Never giving up is our percept, and real Americans accept that credo wholeheartedly. Recognizing the existence and importance of Native Americans is key in understanding America as well. They had their lands stolen by thieves and murderers just like my people (i.e. black Americans) were brutalized via slavery, racism, discrimination, lynchings, the peonage system, etc. Whitewashing American history is wrong, but we must also do the following. We must acknowledge the glory among the righteous aspects of America and continue to fight the evils in America to make America improve itself (along with people globally).
By Timothy
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