（致辞于2022年9月15日）
各位，晚上好。感谢各位共襄盛举，与我们美国人庆祝对我们的国家，美利坚合众国，我们所热爱的一切。
您们有些人可能觉得纳闷：如果美国独立是在7月4日，那我们为什么会在9月中齐聚美国大使馆呢？
您可得记在日历上了，因为明年的独立日庆祝活动，将在2023年7月4日！
各位大概还记得，防疫措施使得今年7月，举行这样的盛会颇为困难。9月份也是我们庆祝宪法日的时候，一份伟大的文书在那天签署成文，我们的合众国因而诞生。
我们国家的立国理念在18世纪当时具革命性，在今天亦是如此。托马斯·杰斐逊在独立宣言中的措辞，人人（无论男女）皆“生而平等”，他们有上苍所赐予的个人权利，如此宝贵，值得捍卫，今昔同之。
我们的男女建国先贤发起民主挑战，246年来的每一代人寻求实现，那就是建立“更完美的合众国”，源自于宪法序言的文字。
我们的历史一路走来，我们所学到的就是，美国最巅峰的时刻，就是当我们自身社会中权利被剥夺的人都得以享有权利的时候。
在我们整个史上，为美国印第安人争取权利是奋斗的主要部分。
结束奴隶制度的战役，将权利扩及非洲裔美国人，一直是美国历史上灼痛的史事焦点，从17世纪的内战直到今日。
追求平等是宪法第十九条修正案背后的驱动力，让妇女在1920年得以取得投票权。
那也是爱尔兰裔，像我爱尔兰裔的祖父母、意大利裔、波兰裔和捷克裔、来自俄罗斯的犹太人、墨西哥裔和中美洲裔、肯尼亚裔、尼日利亚裔、黎巴嫩裔、印度裔、菲律宾裔、韩国裔，以及来自拉丁美洲、非洲、中东和欧洲各国的人们背后，以移民和难民的身份来到我们的国度，在寻求美国梦的同时，要求受到平等对待的挣扎奋斗。
而那样的奋斗一直延续到今天，华裔美国人、亚裔美国人、夏威夷土著和太平洋岛人，和那些家庭渊源可以追溯到印太地区各个国家的美国人，仍在奋斗争取在我们社会里有个能被接受、能融入、有尊严的生活。
身为美国人，我们对所取得的成就感到自豪，并了解争取平等的奋斗继续不断。
但是，我们已经取得某些进展，必须继续稳步前进，从1960年代中期的民权法和选举权法，到1990年的美国残疾人法，到今天争取LGBTQI+同志群体的权利。
拜登总统曾说，平等“在我们所有人的心中搏动，无论人种、族群；无论性别认同或性取向；无论残疾；无论信仰”。
在今晚会场的入口处，各位看到的海报看板上，特写昨日和今日的美国人，在他们所处的时代中，领导争取平等。他们启发我们，在我们的时代不断为平等奋斗。
在我们国家认同的核心中，还有着对人类自由深刻、坚定的信念。一份涌自于独立宣言和宪法权利法案的理想。
我们相信所有的美国人，以及各处各地的人们，都有任何政府皆不可剥夺的个人权利。
宗教自由、言论自由、新闻自由、集会自由。
在法治中享有的自由。
因此，今天适逢联合国国际民主日，提醒着我们，这些个人权利是真正的民主的必要元素。
我们于246年前成立我们的联邦，来捍卫这些自由，来倡导这些自由扩及各国的人民，因为他们是世界人权宣言所承诺、所载明的。
这就是1776年7月4日真正的含义。
如果各位在我们的独立日周游50个州，便会注意到美国人喜欢烤肉、家人团聚、参与棒球赛和家乡的大小游行。
无论我们偏左或偏右、偏红或偏蓝、共和党、民主党或无党派，我们美国人结合在一起，因为有着对我们国家崇高的承诺和深厚的爱。
我要感谢我们的赞助商、我们的陆战队和所有使团同事，因为他们，今晚的庆祝活动才得以圆满举办。
最后，让我邀请外交部部长助理徐飞洪先生上台。部长助理，感谢您代表中华人民共和国政府来参加盛会。我们感谢您的莅临。
女士们、先生们，请和我一起向我们的国家，美利坚合众国的第246年，举杯祝酒。

(Delivered on September 15, 2022)
Good evening, everyone.  Thank you very much for being with us as we Americans celebrate all that we love about our country—the United States of America.
Now, some of you may be wondering:  if America’s Independence is on July 4, why are we gathered here at the U.S. Embassy in mid-September?
Well, please mark your calendars because we will celebrate Independence Day next year on July 4, 2023!
As you will remember, Covid protocols made a big party like this somewhat problematic in July this year.  September is when we also celebrate Constitution Day—the day that great document was signed and our Union was born.
The United States was founded on an idea that was revolutionary in the 18th century and remains revolutionary today—Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence—that all men, (and all women), are “created equal” and that they have individual rights that are God-given, precious, and as worth defending now as they were then.
Our Founding Fathers and Mothers launched a democratic challenge that every generation for 246 years has sought to redeem—the building of “A More Perfect Union”—words from the Preamble to the Constitution.
We have learned throughout our history that America is at its best when we extend rights to people in our own society who have been denied them.
For all of our history, the rights of Native Americans have been a major part of the struggle.
The battle to end slavery and to extend rights to African Americans has been a central searing drama in American history—from the 17th century to the Civil War to this very day.
The search for equality was the driving force behind our Constitution’s 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote in 1920.
It was also behind the struggle of the Irish, like my Irish grandparents, and the Italians, Poles and Czechs, Jews from Russia, Mexicans and Central Americans, Kenyans, Nigerians, Lebanese, Indians, Filipinos, and Koreans, people from every country in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe who came to our shores as immigrants and refugees to be treated equally as they sought to live the American Dream.
And that struggle continues to this very day for Chinese Americans, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and those Americans whose family roots are in every country of the Indo-Pacific region for a life of acceptance, inclusion, and dignity in our society.
As Americans we are proud of our achievements and understand that the struggle for equality continues.
But, we have made and must continue to make steady progress — from the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to the struggle today for the rights of the LGBTQI+ community.
President Biden has said that equality “beats in all of our hearts, no matter your race or ethnicity; no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation; no matter your disability; no matter your faith.”
At the entrance to our event tonight, you may have seen a poster board featuring Americans both past and present who led the fight for equality in their time.  They inspire us to continue the fight for equality in our time.
At the core of our national identity is also a deep, abiding faith in human freedom.  That ideal springs from the Declaration and the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
We believe that all Americans, as well as people everywhere, have individual rights that no government can take away.
Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Assembly.
Freedom in The Rule of Law.
And so, on this United Nations International Day of Democracy, we are reminded that these individual rights are an essential element in a true democracy.
We formed our union 246 years ago to defend these freedoms and to advocate that they be extended to all people in all countries as they are promised and enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This is the true meaning of July 4, 1776.
If you travel anywhere across all 50 states on our Independence Day, you will find Americans enjoying cookouts, family reunions, baseball games and hometown parades.
Whether we are left or right, red or blue, Republican, Democrat or Independent, we Americans are united in a great commitment to and great love of our country.
Let me thank our sponsors, our Marines, and all of our Mission colleagues who made this evening’s celebration happen.
To close, let me ask Assistant Foreign Minister Xu Feihong to join me on stage.  Assistant Minister, thank you for being with us and for representing the government of the People’s Republic of China.  We appreciate your presence.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Please join me in raising a glass to toast our country, the United States of America in our 246th year.
And, before we kick things off with our very own Embassy band, Lily and the Boys, I invite you to watch another American tradition –Fireworks–that we borrowed from its actual inventors—the people of China!  Think of it as fireworks with Digital American characteristics.
Thank you.