Mr. T, born Laurence Tureaud, shared a patriotic message for his Twitter followers this past Independence Day. “Happy Birthday America and Happy Independence Day!” the Tweet started. “I am so very grateful to be a citizen of the United States of America, Thank God,” he added in a follow-up Tweet. His final Tweet admonished his followers, and America in general, to be united. “We the people; together we stand, divided we fall! Black and white together, we shall overcome someday!” The comments are remarkable from Mr. T, who has cited the racism his father experienced as the reason for changing his name to his famous moniker. In a 2015 article with The Huffington Post, Mr. T shared, “I changed my name because as a black man growing up in white society, I watched my father being called ‘boy,’ and he was a preacher. I watched my brother coming back from the Marines and Vietnam and being called ‘boy.’ I watched enough black men in my family being called ‘boy,’ so I point to the fact: What does a black man have to do to get his respect as a man? So, when I became 18 years old, I legally changed my name to Mr. T.”

The Tweets come at a time when a recent Gallup poll shows a record low 38% of Americans citing themselves as “extremely proud to be an American.” The poll also further highlighted growing political divisions amongst Americans, with stark differences amongst American pride depending on political party affiliation. The nation’s divisions had been previously demonstrated in a 2021 survey from the University of Virginia. The survey showed a strong amount of distrust between people of different ideologies, with each side viewing the other as either fascists or socialists. From issues like the overturning of Roe vs Wade to gun control after the horrific mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois,  Americans seem more divided than ever.

Mr. T’s message is a call back to American unity and principle values. As the Declaration of Independence states in its opening lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” Mr. T also encouraged a return to those roots, with his last lines saying, “The Nation that prays together, stays together!” Or, as the Declaration of Independence concludes, “…with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…”