What’s Wrong with America
America is still the greatest nation in the world. This country has given people opportunities to build, create, and achieve beyond imagination. But when we talk about what makes America great, too often the truth is watered down. One of the main reasons this nation has risen to such heights is because of the contributions, inventions, and sacrifices of people of color. Our history is rich with creativity and resilience, yet these truths are often ignored or dismissed—especially by those who are unwilling to face the full story of America.
We cannot forget that people of color, particularly African Americans, were held in bondage for 246 years. Generations lived and died under slavery, building wealth for others while being denied even the most basic freedoms. Entire industries—cotton, tobacco, agriculture, and trade—were fueled by the forced labor of enslaved people. That wealth laid the foundation for the America we know today. But when freedom finally came, those who were freed were given nothing but the clothes they were wearing. No land, no money, no resources. And yet, they were expected to survive and compete in a society built on capitalism.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “It is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” This perfectly captures the truth of what Black Americans faced. They were denied boots altogether, and yet people of privilege continue to act as if the playing field was always equal.
Despite these barriers, people of color pushed forward and shaped America in profound ways. Think about Garrett Morgan, who invented the traffic signal and the gas mask, saving countless lives. Or George Washington Carver, whose agricultural innovations helped transform farming. Katherine Johnson, a Black mathematician at NASA, played a crucial role in sending astronauts to the moon. In medicine, Dr. Charles Drew developed ways to store and preserve blood plasma, a breakthrough that has saved millions of lives around the world. Even in everyday life, inventions like the refrigerator truck, the automatic elevator doors, and the modern ironing board came from Black innovators.
The contributions extend beyond inventions. In music, people of color gave birth to blues, jazz, gospel, hip-hop, and R&B—genres that have influenced global culture. In sports, athletes of color broke barriers and raised the standard of excellence. In literature and politics, voices like James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Shirley Chisholm, and Barack Obama reshaped the way America sees itself. These achievements are not side notes to America’s greatness—they are the foundation of it.
And yet, too often, these stories are hidden, minimized, or politicized. Some conservatives in America push a narrative that avoids uncomfortable truths about slavery, segregation, and inequality. They prefer to celebrate the “shining city on a hill” without acknowledging who built the foundation and who paid the price. This selective memory is part of what’s wrong with America today.
The truth is that America’s story is complicated. It is both beautiful and painful. To deny one side is to cheat the nation of its full greatness. If we want America to live up to its promise, we have to be honest about its past. We must have real conversations about the inequities that continue today—whether in wealth, housing, education, or the justice system. Pretending those problems don’t exist doesn’t make them go away.
What’s wrong with America is not that it lacks greatness. What’s wrong is that it refuses to acknowledge the truth about how that greatness was built. To reach its fullest potential, this country must embrace honesty, confront history, and recognize the contributions of all its people. Only then can America move forward as a nation that is not only powerful but truly just.
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Marvin Dixon/Founder
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