As a Black girl growing up in a segregated St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1950s and early ’60s, I adopted the prevailing story about our country. Nobody ever sat me down and laid it out. Rather, it was conveyed in school, on television, and in the movies. It was in the air. Neither did my family, teachers, or friends refute the story. It was the tale of a nation carved by ruggedness, exploration, and aspiration. A nation full of potential that could be tapped through individual grit and courageous efforts pushing society toward equality and justice, building a thriving multiracial democracy.

For centuries, this story fueled aspirations for a better future, catalyzing the imaginations of Americans who fought epic political battles, from slavery abolition to women’s suffrage, to civil rights, disability rights, and LGBTQ rights, building a thriving multiracial democracy. But, by the time I finished Howard University and became active in the Black Power movement in the late 1960s, I had recognized the story of America was largely a myth—one that relied on burying histories of Native American genocide and stolen land, the brutality of enslavement, racial violence, and discrimination against people of color.

Ultimately, the myth shattered under the weight of skyrocketing inequality, stalled economic mobility, institutional dysfunction, and greater public awareness of the nation’s fraught racial history and systemic racism. The story’s central promise and premise—opportunity for all—not only remains unfulfilled for people of color but also has become bitterly elusive for a large swath of the white population, demonstrating the need to build a thriving multiracial democracy. Many white people, furthermore, do not believe the nation can provide good jobs, high-quality education, and economic security to everyone without taking away the advantages that they believe to be their birthright. And many people of color question whether the United States will ever enable all people to participate fully, prosper, and reach their full potential in society, showing the importance of building a thriving multiracial democracy.

In some ways, it is encouraging that this whitewashed tale is no longer accepted as truth. Despite this sea change, a sizable minority of Americans has defended the myth, ushering forth a story of white grievance and nostalgia in an attempt to recuperate the past—to, as some say, “Make America Great Again.” They are willing to sacrifice building a thriving multiracial democracy on the altar of racial superiority, as dramatically evinced by the violent insurrection at the US Capitol to overturn the 2020 presidential election. We also see this effort in laws and policies aimed at preventing Black, Indigenous, and racially marginalized people from voting and challenging the legitimacy of their ballots, underscoring the importance of building a thriving multiracial democracy. And we see it in the well-orchestrated campaign to outlaw teaching schoolchildren anything about the nation’s racial history—because what is more threatening to authoritarian leaders than an educated, informed citizenry?

Read the full article about building multiracial democracy by Angela Glover Blackwell at Stanford Social Innovation Review.