The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Today, many Americans are still denied access to the founding ideals of liberty, equality, and justice for all, leaving our Fourth of July celebrations incomplete.
This Independence Day is an opportunity to confront the true history of how a fledgling colony became a dominant global power. America’s founding ideals were also accompanied by founding practices: slavery and land dispossession. For centuries, municipal, county, state, and federal governments aided in systematically excluding Black Americans through slavery, Jim Crow laws, and systemic racism that continues to this day. True independence for all Americans requires acknowledging these historical injustices and taking concrete steps toward repair.
Despite recent highly publicized efforts to roll back positive momentum in areas of equity, inclusion, and diversity, the push for reparations continues to gain strength. Key leaders are advancing a progressive and reparative agenda that honors the true spirit of American independence. On May 13, I attended a historic joint congressional briefing on reparative justice and the suite of legislation currently before the U.S. legislature. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) held the briefing, joined by Representatives Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), to discuss the urgent need for justice through reparations. Booker and Pressley had recently reintroduced bills that would create a commission to study reparation proposals for African Americans. Alongside a coalition of racial justice organizations, Congress members and advocates underscored that reparative justice is the antidote to the centuries of enslavement and systemic racism that have prevented true independence for all Americans.
Two days later, on May 15, Representative Lee used her position to raise awareness of these issues in a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. I was fortunate enough to join the fellowship and support of advocates and congressional members as Lee reintroduced the Reparations Now resolution. Previously introduced in 2023 by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), the resolution complements reparative justice legislation, such as the G.I. Restoration Act and the Restoring Artistic Protections Act. It seeks to enact laws, such as H.R. 40, that will federally acknowledge the moral and legal obligation to truth-telling, repairing, and healing the lasting harms of enslavement and systemic racism.
A few weeks later, during National Equity Week, Pressley hosted an advocate roundtable briefing on H.R. 40 for congressional staff members. At the same time, Congresswomen Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) reintroduced a resolution to create a commission on truth, racial healing, and transformation to bring Americans together, shining a light on our shared history at a time when ideas of citizenship, culture, and belonging are highly divisive and contested.
These reparative justice efforts are part of the long legacy of the freedom, liberation, and civil rights movements. H.R. 40 has been introduced continually for the past 30 years and remains the blueprint for state and local efforts on reconciliation from California to Washington, D.C. The movement has never paused or even faltered, as there is no end to this conversation until the harm is fully acknowledged and healed.
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 14: American flags are seen on the National Mall lawn ahead of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade on June 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 14: American flags are seen on the National Mall lawn ahead of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade on June 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Senator Booker and Reps. Lee, Pressley, Johnson, Simon, and Crockett are among the many government officials who are speaking out for truth and repair. America cannot heal from the cruelty of the past without elected officials and civic leaders playing a role. Local, county, state, and federal governments have sanctioned, authorized, constitutionalized, and executed harms that our communities still experience. Our officials today must do their part to restore, recognize, and amplify the experiences and voices of Black Americans in the political arena, helping others see the quilted threads of shared histories of inequity.
However, this reckoning must extend beyond government. This is a movement for all people, in all aspects of our society. The path towards a more prosperous and inclusive future, one that heals from past traumas, must not leave anyone behind. We must ask ourselves what true independence looks like when it includes everyone. If a single person is excluded from the process of repairing what is broken, then the work will remain unfinished.
As we celebrate Independence Day, we must remember that the Founders themselves understood that America would remain a work in progress. The Constitution included mechanisms for amendment precisely because its authors knew the work of creating a more perfect union would continue across generations. Today’s movement for reparations embodies the same spirit of continuous improvement in the pursuit of justice.
The actual progress we need is the healing of wounds that centuries of injustice have created. Only this healing, this repairing, will lead us toward a more perfect union. There is no single, simple solution to the exploitation and dehumanization inflicted on Black people in this country. But through politics, education, law, finances, social contracts, space, and spirituality, we can develop an inclusive, holistic reparations process. To achieve this goal, we need elected officials and people from all walks of life to join us and our community in lifting our voices together.
This Independence Day, let us recommit to the founding ideals of our nation while honestly acknowledging where we have fallen short. The true goal of reparations is love and repair—values that align perfectly with the American promise of liberty and justice for all. If we can repair lasting injuries, we can heal our nation, better equipping it to anticipate and attend to the dangers, toils, and snares ahead. We must remember that repair and healing are always a net benefit to any society.
As fireworks light up the night sky, let us remember that the truth is also a source of light. America’s promise remains unfinished, and truth and repair are a robust recipe for stimulating forward momentum that affirms the ideals animating the Declaration of Independence. True independence for all requires telling the truth about our past and taking concrete action toward repair. Only then can we achieve the dignity and justice that the founding documents promised but remains to be delivered for all Americans.
Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter is a professor of sociology and African American studies at UCLA. He is also the author of “Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation.”
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
