America certainly wasn't great on July 4, 1776 when it was announced that "all men are created equal", while ignoring the humanity of enslaved workers and women. It wasn't great when we fought a Civil War, not for the abolition of slavery but the preservation of the union. America wasn't great when it failed to adequately punish the insurgents and traitors after that war. America wasn't great when it failed to follow through on promises of reparations after the Civil War, literally ripping land away from former enslaved people because Andrew Johnson was a prick. America wasn't great when it failed to enforce Reconstruction and ended it out of political expedience for Rutherford B Hayes. It wasn't great when it turned a blind eye to Black Codes, Jim Crow, and the slaughter of thousands of Black Citizens. It wasn't great during the Great Depression when farmers and homeworkers were excluded from benefits of Social Security, thus excluding most Black Americans. It wasn't great in its reaction to Emmett Till, Ruby Bridges, the Birmingham Bombing, Medgar Evers or even basic efforts to enforce Brown v Board. America damn sure wasn't great when it murdered Fred Hampton in his sleep, or MLK as he spoke, or Malcolm X as he sought reconciliation, or RFK when he fought for equality. America wasn't great when it saw the rise of Black citizens seeking equality and it chose to side in favor or property taxes as equality (San Antonio vs Rodriquez) or to limit affirmative action policies in the fallacious University of California v Bakke. America wasn't great when it chose to feed crack cocaine into intentionally segregated inner city communities to fund its foreign wars. America has never been great in its judicial treatment of Black Americans vs White Americans. America wasn't great when it allowed White Supremacists to tear down the economic welfare benefits of the 1960's, even though poor whites benefited more than Blacks.
I could go on, but I would say in all seriousness..When has America been truly great? When has America ever lived up to its promise without white rage backlash? Never...it's never happened
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