What Black poets and Latino WWII vets can teach us about American patriotism at 250

By: James E. Garcia

Outlets: Arizona Mirror

Published: July 3, 2026

Words: 875

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I’ve been celebrating our country’s 250th birthday for several weeks now, though not in the way you might think.

No fireworks. No flag waving. No parades.

Instead, I’ve been marking the occasion by watching, if you will, fragments of America’s often complicated story play out on stage.

When I’m not writing columns, I spend a lot of my time producing live theater. And for the past several weeks, I’ve had the privilege of mounting …

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