Below is a wonderful message on video from the ND Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, in which Justice Clarence Thomas delivers the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture.

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If you want to find out why this is important without watching the video, enjoy this excerpt from Black Community News (BCN), written by Star Parker, founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education.

Last week, Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas arrived at the University of Notre Dame to speak about the Declaration of Independence…

His presentation was a brilliant and profound articulation of what America is about at its core…

Thomas tells…how his life’s journey led him to understand what America is about.

He grew up poor near Savannah, Georgia, raised by his grandparents, under the tutelage of his grandfather, a devout Catholic and American patriot.

Thomas’ grandfather understood that the injustices of the country were not about flaws in the country but about flaws in human beings…living up to ideals…What needed to be fixed were the people — not the nation…

But Thomas…went to college in the midst of the civil rights movement…[and]became filled with…the sense that America is an irredeemably flawed…nation…

“What had given my life meaning and sense of belonging, that this country was my home, was jettisoned as old-fashioned and antiquated. …much of my time focused intently on our racial differences and grievances…”

…“I began to see that the theories of my young adulthood were destructive and self-defeating…..”

“The wholesomeness of my childhood had been replaced with…cynicism, and despair. I was faced with the simple fact that…We are all…heirs to our nation’s legacy of equality. We had to live up to the obligations of the equal citizenship to which we were entitled…”

As he continued work in the federal government, Thomas became “deeply interested in the Declaration of Independence.”

“The Declaration captured what I had been taught to venerate as a child but had cynically rejected as a young man…”…

“…[T]he Declaration of Independence has weathered every storm…It birthed a great nation. It abolished…slavery. … While we have failed the ideals of the Declaration…I know of no time when the ideals have failed us.”…

Thomas’ message about the Declaration may be summarized: There are eternal truths; they are true for all of humanity; and it is the personal responsibility of each individual to live up to them…

Does this encourage you? What does your personal responsibility entail in living up to the truths of our Constitution? Share in the comments below!

(Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).