Albert Ramírez

Posted October 16, 2025

 

 

Once upon a time, in the country where I was born and raised, there were principles and beliefs that we lived by and that we cherished—they were imbedded in the documents that united us as a people, a nation, and as a democracy.

 

These are but a few of those principles and beliefs:

 

-We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

 

-Freedom of religion, of the press, of peaceful assembly, of speech and expression, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

 

-The government shall not have the right to establish a religion, either implicitly or explicitly.

 

-Our government is for “We, the people”

 

-Three equal branches of government – the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, so as to prevent the establishment of an authoritarian system of government in which one branch has all the power.

 

But that was once upon a time.

 

They have abrogated their responsibility and pledge to represent all the people.

 

I am now retired, but if I were still in the classroom, I would feel unsafe in discussing historical, political, and scientific facts based on science and on a body of evidence. I witness and read about educators who have lost their jobs or research funding because they are not in line with the present and dominant political ideology.

 

I see hard-working people who have lived here for years, paying taxes and contributing to a social security system in which they most likely will never be beneficiaries, afraid to go to work or send their American-born children to school.

 

I see us cursing each other and using the most vile and hateful of words—and all too often, hurting or killing each other—because the “other” does not believe or think or pray as “us.” Sadly, it is all too often our trusted leaders—who should be our role models—who are igniting the fires of dissension, hatred and political violence. They have abrogated their responsibility and pledge to represent all the people.

 

Once upon a time, when we believed in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

 

Once upon a time, when we aspired to be the sweet land of liberty, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

 

Once upon a time—when we were a democracy, when we were the United States of America.

 

Once upon a time—when no man was above the law.

 

 

Albert Ramírez, PhD, retired, psychology and neuroscience Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado at Boulder. Professor Ramírez was one of the first individuals from an underrepresented group to be hired as a tenure-track faculty member in 1971 and was later promoted to associate professor and full professor. He served as associate dean of the Graduate School and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. He advocated for the creation of the Center for the Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America (CSERA) and the ethnic studies department.