Why I Am Posting This on July 4, 2026
Today, America celebrates 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
For many Americans, July 4th is a day of freedom, gratitude, family, and celebration.
For African Americans, it is also a day that invites reflection.
In 1776, the ideals of liberty and equality were declared, yet millions of Africans and their descendants remained enslaved. Native peoples also faced displacement and loss as the nation expanded.
Both truths can exist at the same time.
I love America.
I am grateful for America.
I have benefited from opportunities created by America.
And I also recognize that America has often struggled to fully live up to its founding ideals.
This essay is not about guilt.
It is not about blame.
It is about empathy.
Because empathy creates conviction, conviction creates connection, connection creates consensus, consensus creates collaboration, and collaboration creates change.
On America’s 250th birthday, perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give each other is the willingness to build a bridge toward understanding.
Everything Starts with Distinctions
In 2020, I earned a certificate in Systems Thinking from Cornell University. One of the most important lessons I learned was that everything begins with distinctions.
Before we can understand a system, we must first understand the differences within it.
Systems thinking taught me to move through four steps:
- Distinctions — What is different?
- Part-Whole Thinking — How do the parts fit together?
- Relationships — How do the parts influence one another?
- Perspectives — How do different people see the same reality?
Everything starts with distinctions.
The Bible is filled with distinctions. Men and women. Jews and Gentiles. Nations and tribes. Believers and nonbelievers.
Recognizing differences is not the problem.
The challenge comes when differences become hierarchies.
Race is a man-made construct.
Whiteness is man-made.
Blackness is man-made.
Asian American, Latino, Native American, and other racial categories are human attempts to organize people into groups.
The categories themselves are not the issue.
What matters is what societies choose to do with those distinctions.
In America, race became part of a system.
Africans were stolen from the continent of Africa and brought to America as enslaved labor. Native peoples were displaced, killed, and forced from their ancestral lands. Laws, institutions, and customs were established that treated people differently based on race.
For much of American history, racism was overt.
It was visible.
It was legal.
It was public.
People could point to the laws, signs, policies, and practices that separated people based on race.
Today, in 2026, racism is often more covert.
It is harder to identify.
It can exist in assumptions, access, networks, opportunities, expectations, and outcomes.
Overt racism says, “You cannot come in.”
Covert racism says, “The door is open,” while ignoring the fact that some people started the race hundreds of yards behind everyone else.
Understanding the difference between overt and covert racism requires something more than sympathy.
It requires empathy.
Sympathy and Empathy Are Not the Same
As I prepare to run the Boston Marathon on April 19, 2027, I have been asking people a simple question:
“What is one of the hardest things you’ve ever done?”
I ask friends.
I ask strangers.
I ask runners.
I ask business leaders.
I ask people from different races, religions, professions, and political beliefs.
The answers are inspiring.
People talk about grief.
Divorce.
Addiction.
Military service.
Recovery.
Parenthood.
Business failures.
Financial hardship.
Illness.
Loss.
Perseverance.
Recently, while running with a gentleman from the Atlanta Track Club, I asked him the question.
His answer was powerful.
After he shared his story, I asked how he identified racially.
He said, “Asian American.”
I said, “I’m African American.”
That led us into a meaningful conversation.
I will never know exactly what it feels like to be an Asian American.
He will never know exactly what it feels like to be an African American.
Neither of us will ever know what it feels like to be a woman.
There are experiences that belong uniquely to the people who live them.
That realization led us to discuss the difference between sympathy and empathy.
Sympathy says:
“I feel sorry for you.”
Empathy says:
“I may never fully know your experience, but I am willing to move toward it.”
Sympathy observes pain.
Empathy pursues understanding.
Sympathy stands nearby.
Empathy walks alongside.
Building Empathy Through BRIDGE
If we want change, we must first build empathy.
To help explain this process, I use the acronym BRIDGE.
B — Be Curious
Ask questions.
Listen more than you speak.
Seek understanding before judgment.
R — Respect Differences
Differences are real.
Ignoring them does not create unity.
Respecting them creates trust.
I — Imagine Their Reality
You may never fully understand someone’s experience.
But you can intentionally move toward understanding.
D — Discover Their Story
Statistics inform.
Stories transform.
People connect through stories.
G — Grow Your Perspective
Expand your understanding through relationships, books, experiences, and conversations.
Growth begins where certainty ends.
E — Engage Together
Empathy is not passive.
Empathy moves people toward action.
Not agreement on everything.
Action together.
When people build a BRIDGE, empathy grows.
The Pathway to Change
Over the years, I have observed that meaningful change follows a pattern.
Empathy creates conviction.
Conviction creates connection.
Connection creates consensus.
Consensus creates collaboration.
Collaboration creates change.
Too many people want change without collaboration.
Too many people want collaboration without consensus.
Too many people want consensus without connection.
Too many people want connection without empathy.
The process cannot be skipped.
In my own work, I often describe this progression as:
Conviction → Connection → Consensus → Collaboration → Change
Empathy is what creates the conviction.
Without empathy, there is rarely enough motivation to change.
Even Within Groups, Empathy Matters
One of the greatest mistakes people make is assuming groups are monolithic.
They are not.
African Americans are not monolithic.
White Americans are not monolithic.
Asian Americans are not monolithic.
Christians are not monolithic.
Democrats are not monolithic.
Republicans are not monolithic.
Within every community there are distinctions.
Working class.
Middle class.
Upper middle class.
Wealthy.
Urban.
Suburban.
Rural.
Conservative.
Moderate.
Progressive.
Even within the African American community, people can share a racial identity while living vastly different realities.
The same is true within every racial, ethnic, political, and religious group.
Empathy helps bridge those gaps.
Not by pretending differences do not exist.
But by honoring them.
Running Toward Understanding
As I prepare for Boston, I am learning that running and empathy have something in common.
Both require movement.
You cannot build endurance standing still.
You cannot build empathy standing still.
You must move toward people.
You must ask questions.
You must listen.
You must learn.
You must be willing to be uncomfortable.
The goal is not agreement.
The goal is understanding.
And understanding is often the first step toward transformation.
America’s story is still being written.
The question is not whether we have differences.
We do.
The question is whether we will allow those differences to divide us or challenge us to better understand one another.
On this 250th birthday of the United States of America, I believe we have an opportunity to build more bridges than walls.
Not through guilt.
Not through denial.
Not through blame.
But through empathy.
Because empathy creates conviction.
Conviction creates connection.
Connection creates consensus.
Consensus creates collaboration.
Collaboration creates change.
That is how bridges are built.
That is how systems change.
That is how communities change.
That is how nations change.
And that is how people change.
America is not perfect.
Neither are its people.
But if we are willing to build BRIDGES toward understanding, perhaps we can move closer to the ideals that were declared in 1776 and continue the unfinished work of making liberty and justice real for everyone.
That is my hope.
That is my prayer.
And that is why, on July 4, 2026, I choose empathy over sympathy and understanding over assumption.
Because we are all human beings.
And while our experiences may be different, our humanity is shared.