As we prepare for Fourth of July weekend, it may feel like there isn’t a lot to celebrate this year on America’s Birthday. We have seen attacks on collective bargaining, healthcare and immigrant workers. Many of us have felt “othered” by this Administration in ways we didn’t even imagine a year ago.

But that’s why on this Independence Day, it is important to remember and internalize the simple fact: There is nothing more American than a union. 

Whether it is fighting for fair wages and safe working conditions, showing solidarity in the face of oppressive, union-busting corporate oligarchs, or helping one another out in our communities, unions are quintessentially American. 

Unions and workers transcend race or creed, gender or geography, education or nationality. 

We represent the spirit of coming together in the face of adversity through the power of solidarity, not unlike when the Founding Fathers came together to fight the British Empire. 

So, whether you celebrate the Fourth with barbecue and fireworks, or whether the holiday is a time of somber reflection, remember that we are literally the women and men who built this country and made it what it is today. 

The Chinese and Irish immigrants who built the railroads that became the lifeblood of this nation. The Pennsylvania coal miners who braved union-busting at the end of a gun barrel to organize and collectively bargain. Latino and Filipino farmworkers who captured the imagination of a nation as they fought for a union and power while they fed us.

And, since this isn’t just ancient history, workers like the Starbucks baristas and Amazon drivers who are fighting against billionaire CEOs for formal union recognition.

Struggle and solidarity, nothing more American than that. 

We know the fight isn’t finished. We know there is so much work to be done. But as we rest, celebrate and observe the 249th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, let us remember how far we have come. Together.