This article originally appeared in The Detroit News June 30, 2026

“Do you think America 250 is worth celebrating?”

I and other attendees were asked that question two weeks ago while speaking at the National Civil Rights Conference, held this year in Detroit.

The question made me think of my grandmother. Anastasia Burczak was born in 1922 in a small village in what is today western Ukraine. During World War II, her family experienced the twin horrors of being invaded first by Nazi Germany and then by the Soviet Union.

Anastasia managed to escape to safety, but her mother and brother were imprisoned in Siberia for years. Her father was tortured and killed, and to this day we do not know where his grave is. She never saw her family again.

Eventually Anastasia made her way to the United States with the help of both friends and strangers. She settled in western New York and found a job at a tile factory. She did not speak English, so the company placed her with workers who could help her learn the language.

Anastasia met Mike Pancio, who worked at his family’s grocery store and had served in the U.S. Army during the war. Initially, she wanted nothing to do with him, but she didn’t want people to think she was afraid, so she agreed to a date. They fell in love, got married and had four daughters, including my mother. Anastasia faithfully attended her local church just up the street, cooking food from the old country for the church’s annual bazaar — pierogi, stuffed cabbage leaves and nut rolls.

My grandmother is still alive at 103. She lives in the house that she and Grandpa built nearly 70 years ago. The mayor issued a proclamation in her honor when we celebrated her 100th birthday.

Is America worth celebrating? This country welcomed a young immigrant woman who arrived with nothing. It is the country where she found work and a home. In this country she nurtured a family. Her legacy now includes 17 grandchildren and more than 30 great-grandchildren.

My grandmother’s story is powerful but not unique. Across the United States, ordinary people built extraordinary things, and Michigan has been a critical part of the American story.

Michigan produced the lumber that built America. Grand Rapids made the furniture that filled homes and offices. Detroit manufactured the cars that mobilized the world. Motown became the soundtrack of a generation. The Underground Railroad. The Arsenal of Democracy. Automation Alley. In all these ways, Michigan helped shape America.

None of this happened by accident. It resulted from a deliberate act 250 years ago, when our founders signed the Declaration of Independence.

America’s greatest contribution to the world is not a product, a scientific breakthrough or even a military achievement.

America’s greatest contribution is an idea: the idea that people are created equal, that we can govern ourselves, that our rights do not come from government.

The Declaration stated the ideal. Our founders and subsequent generations have fallen short of that ideal many times. But the Declaration gave us something to strive toward. It made it possible for men and women to come to America and pursue their dreams.

Some Americans alive today remember celebrating the bicentennial back in 1976. Others will celebrate America’s 300th birthday a half century from now. Each generation is entrusted with the American experiment. Each generation must decide whether to preserve it.

Is the world better off with America?

Yes.

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