As the United States celebrates its 250th Independence Day on 4 July 2025, a critical reflection on its history reveals a nation shaped by war and contradictions. Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers and human rights activist, argues that the US inherited a "war DNA" from Britain, its former colonial master. Britain, a small country, has been at war with 171 of the 193 United Nations member states, leaving only 22 countries—mainly French colonies and the Vatican—unaffected. The US, since its independence, has been at war or in armed conflicts for 230 out of 250 years, engaging in over 500 military interventions, averaging two active conflicts annually.
War Economy and Presidential Rhetoric
Lakemfa contends that the US has a hereditary war economy, with an establishment that rejoices at the approach of war. He criticizes the rhetoric of the current US president, who in April threatened Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face annihilation: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." Days earlier, he threatened to "blast Iran into oblivion … back to the Stone Ages!!!" On Easter morning, he told Iranians: "Open the F——-in' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell." Such language, Lakemfa says, is unprecedented in human history.
Contradictions in the Declaration of Independence
The US Declaration of Independence proclaimed that "all men are created equal" with unalienable rights to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." However, Lakemfa notes that this declaration lied against itself, as only the white population was accepted as equal. The indigenous American Indian population faced genocide, and a dozen US presidents were slave owners. George Washington owned over 500 slaves; Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration, owned more than 600; James Madison had 100; and Zachary Taylor, 150. Presidents James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant also owned slaves.
Ongoing Struggles for Equality
American Indians continue to protest their unequal state. Their leader, Leonard Peltier, 80, was released from prison in February 2025 after 50 years but remains confined. African Americans faced a similar nightmare; Malcolm X in the 1960s called it the "American nightmare" rather than the American dream. African Americans did not gain the right to vote until 1965. Puerto Ricans, however, still cannot vote in US presidential elections because Puerto Rico remains a US colony, not a state. It is one of 15 colonies the US maintains, referred to as "overseas territories." Puerto Rican independence leader Oscar Lopez Rivera was released from prison in May 2017 after 38 years.
Territorial Expansion and Neighbor Relations
The US seized 55 percent of Mexico's territory, including present-day California, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Canada faces threats of annexation; the Trump administration proposed making it the 51st state. Lakemfa argues that the US has scant regard for the UN's founding principles of international peace, equal rights, self-determination, and sovereignty. It regards Latin America as its "backyard," invading Nicaragua multiple times. In 1855, American businessman William Walker overthrew the Nicaraguan government and ruled for ten months, reinstating the slave trade, before being removed by a force financed by Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Global Interventions and Colonial Legacy
The US has militarily overthrown governments in Guatemala (1954), Chile (1973), and Grenada (1983). In Asia, it overthrew Iran's Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. In Africa, it joined Belgium and Britain to overthrow Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960) and President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1966). It led allies to bomb Libya in 2011, resulting in the death of Muammar Gaddafi. President Trump unilaterally recognized Western Sahara, an African country and African Union member, as part of Morocco—a gift of a country the US does not own. The US has occupied Cuba's Guantanamo Bay since 1903 and imposed unilateral restrictions for 64 years, barring Cuba from trade and access to food, fuel, and medicines. Trump spoke of a "friendly takeover" of Cuba.
A Hope for Transformation
Despite these critiques, Lakemfa acknowledges the US as a great country contributing to knowledge, research, space travel, and inventions. However, he notes its tendency to commercialize everything and sometimes use knowledge to humanity's detriment, such as experiments on smallpox that reduced the indigenous Indian population. As he joins millions in congratulating the US on its 250th Independence Day, he prays that humanity can develop engineering to alter its DNA and transform it into a force for peace and development, making it truly "God's own country."
