Okay so I wasn't going to delve into the Hamilton critiquing because genuinely getting to see this musical instead of just listening to it after four years has afforded me more joy than I have had in months. So here it goes:

The Founding Fathers were not perfect. I say this as a person obsessed with US history. The Founding Fathers were not great people. Most of them (it not all) were absolutely abhorrent when it came to slavery, the rights of black people in this country, and indigenous people.

The Founding Fathers had this vision of a land that was by the people and for the people. And they literally fucked it up from day one. America's great original sin from its inception was slavery. And the Founding Fathers fucked it up. Miserably.

And every generation since has had to grapple with that fuck up. We fought a war over it. Generations of Black people in this country have been held back because of that original fuck up. And for those of us that benefit from the original fuck up, our work is woefully behind.

America is also built on immigrants. White immigrants who had to make the choice to assimilate and accept their whiteness. Brown immigrants who still grapple with xenophobia and racism. Black immigrants who did not come on slave ships. Asian immigrants who deal with racism.

What Hamilton represented to me the first time I listened to it was giving the American dream back to the descendants of slaves and to the immigrants. It felt like Lin Manuel Miranda affords marginalized people 2 hours where they can create a more perfect union.

Every single slave owner in the original cast is played by a Black man. That felt purposeful, as if Lin and the cast were saying to the long dead Founding Fathers, "We refuse to let your sins keep us from building this country into an actual EQUAL one, instead of this."

I did not feel anyone was romanticized. My mom watched it for the first time this weekend (I think she had listened to like half the album) and said "Wow they make Jefferson look really bad." Ummmmmmm cause he was? He was a slave owner who raped a slave for decades.

Hamilton The Musical is fanfic. While it is well researched fanfic, it is still fanfic. It opens a world for those this country wasn't built for. It puts all of us into that narrative. A narrative that didn't have space for a huge part of this country.

It is also fanfic that encourages growth and learning. I poke my head into the fandom occasionally and so many young people saw themselves represented and then did their homework. They know Hamilton was an abolitionist who also managed his father-in-laws slaves.

They know the Founding Fathers were complex. None of them are fangirling Alexander Hamilton. They fangirl Lin's fanfic A. Ham. But do not assume that most of them take the musical as gospel truth.

Hamilton did a lot for Broadway, both in terms of its musical score and the writing, but also in representation. I have to admit that when I first heard George Washington would be played by a black man, I was confused. Now it feels so natural to see.

I'm not sure how a 2.5 hour musical could have covered the original sin of slavery. But it was also never meant to be a historical account. Hamilton is upbeat. It's positive. With its "immigrants, we get the job done" and even the solemn

"Black and white soldiers wonder alike of this really means freedom." "Not yet", the show takes the American dream and turns it around to give the control to the people for whom it was never meant.

Also one thing I want to say is that these conversations are important. But it's also important not to shame people for loving the show. There is a fine line there, and right now I worry we are crossing it.

If you watch Hamilton and take a 2.5 hour long musical as the end all be all of the Founding Fathers, you are making a grave mistake. Enjoy the musical, and then read. Learn. Understand that the country these men dreamed of never materialized, mostly because of their own faults.