As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, it is time to acknowledge our nation’s history, the triumphs, but the flaws as well, if we are to be true to ourselves and future generations. It is time to tell the truth regarding the words of the Declaration of Independence, and the truth of America’s greatest sin, the dehumanization of a group of people based upon lies.

Truth is described as alignment with facts or reality; truth is what is real, genuine. Truth remains despite narratives based upon beliefs forged from lies. Truth is lasting, truth is integrity. So, how does America become true to itself? How does it help whites not to have to defend themselves for not owning slaves or living during that period? How does America relieve whites of the lie of white superiority?

Greatness lies in moral character, not mightiness or the ability to dominate others. If America is to be the great nation that it claims and desires to be, two lies must be refuted and truths told. Until America refutes these core lies that have been made “truths” in American culture, the nation cannot move forward; its past will continue to haunt it as it has done for years after enslavement was supposed to end because its legacy remains and has been conditioned into American culture.

It is time for an American Declaration of Truth.

What will the Declaration of Truth require?

The Declaration of Truth requires that two fundamental lies incorporated into American culture must be refuted. The first fallacy is found in the words of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The individuals who wrote these words as moral beliefs that they personally held lied. They could not have believed these words while holding human beings in a brutal and dehumanizing bondage. The second lie that must be refuted is that of the intellectual, cultural, and moral inferiority of the African that justified enslavement and made the African suitable for dehumanization. This lie has had the most destructive impact on American culture, morality, and sense of humanity.

The United States Congress has passed resolutions apologizing for slavery and its legacy. In 2008, the House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans, and in 2009, the Senate passed a similar resolution that recognized both the inhumanity of enslavement and the Jim Crow laws. However, nothing changed in the American mind as a result, because the real issue was not addressed. An apology without refuting the lies of African and African American inferiority was meaningless.

To this point, no American president has issued a formal federal apology. It is time for emboldened moral leadership. It is time for our political leaders to publicly refute the lies of the Declaration of Independence, the lies of African inferiority and that of their descendants in America, and the lie of white superiority. The lies have been repeated, indoctrinated, and shaped the perceptions of all Americans. It is time to tell the purpose of the African inferiority lie, how the lie was promoted, the American public indoctrinated for generations, and to finally renounce the lie.

Secondly, a national commission must be appointed to study and determine how American institutions, education, the media, law enforcement, etc., can confront, challenge, and correct the lie of African/African American inferiority. A governmental task force must be assigned the task of reframing the false negatives in our educational system, media, and other institutions in our nation.

Third, reparations to produce truth about the character and contributions of Africans and African Americans to the development of the United States must be funded.

The national identity and character of America requires that the nation come to terms with the sin of slavery, embrace a transformed and truthful narrative regarding the institution, and make a national commitment to transform what has been culturally conditioned in the American mind.

As we are halfway into 2026, it is time for the Declaration of Truth, for the nation’s apology, repentance, and reparations for years of injustice based upon the legacy of enslavement and the lies that made America untrue to its profound creed of equality. The Declaration of Truth will open the way for Americans to develop empathy, compassion, and focus on creating justice, equality, and unity among all Americans.

As we celebrate July 4th and the 250th anniversary of America, which road will be taken? Will we continue to be bound by the legacy and lies of enslavement, or will we move forward as a nation? Our true greatness as a nation will be measured by our collective moral character and our humanity towards each other.