America can only be great when we aren’t afraid to be better.

It’s been nearly 250 years since Jefferson, an enslaver, wrote the words, “all men are created equal,” and declared independence from Great Britain. It’s been 162 years since the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s been 61 years since the Civil Rights Act. It’s been 2 days since a Black man was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi. We live in a nation weathered, worn, and shaped by injustice and the ongoing effort for liberty and justice to which all are entitled.

Faneuil Hall’s relationship to slavery is as complex as the nation’s. Funded by Peter Faneuil, an enslaver and participant in the slave trade, Faneuil Hall was built in 1742. Its use by the Sons of Liberty inspired its lasting nickname, “The Cradle of Liberty.” But the Cradle of Liberty, like the nation it helped to establish, was also the site of slave auctions. The bricks of the Freedom Trail are laid on ground where some of the worst acts of oppression took place, where humanity was denied, and where families were ripped apart.

Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783, but not before thousands of individuals were subjected to its cruelty. At the time of the Revolution, when our “Founding Fathers” were calling for liberty, 10% of Boston’s population was enslaved. If you need examples of the horrors of slavery, research the story of Mark Hung in Chains in Charlestown.

In the 19th century, Faneuil Hall became the meeting place of Abolitionist activists including Frederick Douglas, proving that while we live with the systems and shadows of the past, progress is possible. William Cooper Nell was one of these abolitionists. Born in 1816, he grew up in the Black community of Beacon Hill. He was a historian, author, publisher, and advocate for equality in education. In a speech made when he was 16 years old, he declared, “prejudice is the cause of slavery, and its attendant evils; and which, united with malice, is the cause of disunion in societies, and is the fomenter of all commotion…it is unholy…”

Today, the federal government is removing stories of slavery from our national museums, historical parks, and sites of memory. They’re promoting material that claims slavery is natural and wasn’t, “that bad.” It’s shameful and it goes against our most fundamental values of liberty and justice for all.

Slavery was that bad, and so is its legacy. It is not un-American to say that.