Each year shortly before July 4, members of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (TCDLA) gather on courthouse steps throughout the state to honor the Declaration of Independence. They read the great document to celebrate our American freedoms and the real meaning of Independence Day. It is a tradition unlike any other in the nation.

This year, because of public health concerns, many such readings will be impossible. So, statewide TCDLA Declaration reading organizers Robb Fickman of Houston and Chuck Lanehart of Lubbock produced a short video featuring a reading of the Declaration. The readers are criminal defense lawyers from all corners of the state who normally organize celebrations of the Declaration on their respective courthouse steps.

TCDLA hopes you will enjoy this heartfelt and inspiring video, which acknowledges the shortcomings of the Declaration with a reminder that the 1776 signing in Philadelphia was the beginning of a continuum of American progress toward equal rights for all: the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and now Black Lives Matter.