Today we celebrate freedom. Cue the sparklers, turn on the grill and settle in to watch “Independence Day.”

According to www.history.com, the Fourth of July’s been an official American holiday since 1941, but most of us learned about American history in elementary school.

As a reminder, in 1776, delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, demanding we be a free nation and not under British rule.

The founders of this country faced death to establish a country where people could rule together and not bow to a king. To make sure people never forgot tyranny, they passed the First Amendment.

This amendment establishes five basic freedoms:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government.

Freedom of religion would seem to be a given.

Unless one’s religion is different from someone else’s.

Then there’s a lot of finger pointing and explaining why they’re wrong and you’re right.

Freedom of speech is great in theory, but when confronted with racial slurs, bigotry, prejudice about others due to the color of their skin or their gender, many people want to put a gag on anyone pushing boundaries.

We supposedly have the freedom to say what we want as long as we’re not slandering someone else, but we’re paranoid about being politically correct in what we say and write.

Thanks to the internet and everyone having a cell phone, whatever someone says, whether they’re angry, young or intoxicated, can be used against them for years.

The press can be thanked for having the courage to report bravely about cover ups and wrongs, such as Watergate, harshly detaining families at the borders and brutal detention camps in Guantanamo Bay.

Despite the real press’s ability to expose wrongdoings, somewhere along the way, newspapers have taken a beating.

That’s thanks to agenda-driven bloggers and sloppy online posters who post whatever they want and pass gossip and innuendo off as journalism.

There’s no adherence to the journalist’s code of ethics, double checking facts or verifying sources.

Even news sources that are supposed to be unbiased put their own spin on the news, and readers must think deeply, research the facts and not accept someone else’s manipulation of the facts.

We’re supposed to have the freedom to assemble but seeing protesters with professionally made signs being egged on by hate groups makes it almost impossible for those with legitimate gripes and complaints to assembly peacefully.

We have the freedom to petition the government. Good luck with that. The last time I tried to get information out of the government, I had to fill out a dozen pages and wait six weeks for an answer. So, yes, we’re free to petition the government, but don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer.

These are simple and basic human rights, but they’re routinely denied, not just in this country but around the world.

Because we’re often shown only the bad side, it’s tough to be a flag-waving American. We see pictures of families detained at the border, a dead father and child in the water.

We hear about decades of racial profiling, poverty and homelessness. We question what kind of country allows these injustices to happen.

But then we see people of all color and cultures volunteering at the local food pantries, coming out in droves to donate and help when hurricanes hit and helping neighbors rebuild their flooded homes. We see communities donating bike after bike for a stranger they saw walking along the road and then paying for his funeral.

Yes, some of our freedoms have suffered, but they’re intact and being protected by most Americans who remember on the Fourth of July the price paid for freedom.

Working together, we can make sure that fight wasn’t fought in vain.

I believe in America. More importantly, I believe in Americans.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.