All have contributed to our country

In view of the day we celebrate our independence and remember the massacre of nine black churchgoers by a white supremacist recently, we Americans should remember the following. The first person killed in the defense of our freedom in the Revolutionary War by the British was a man of mixed race, Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre.

At the Battle of Bunker Hill beside white revolutionaries there were three black revolutionaries and there were also black soldiers at the Battle of Concord. By the end of the Revolutionary War the Revolutionary Army was populated by thousands of black soldiers, a number of whom were promised their freedom from slavery, a promise which never materialized for many of them. Were it not for the Cuban ladies of Havana who pawned their jewelry to raise money to pay George Washington's soldiers, who threatened to go home if not paid, we may possibly be British subjects today. Our freedom is owed to many, and therefore, let us be tolerant of the many minorities and majorities who live in America. All have contributed to our country.

Stewart E Brekke

Downers Grove