History is required learning from elementary to high school. Once you hit college age, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to continue learning about the history of the United States of America. All through grade school, we learn about Native Americans who shared their corn with the Pilgrims, and that’s why we now celebrate Thanksgiving. We learn anecdotes about past presidents and the woman who sewed the flag we pledge allegiance to today. We learn about a brave soldier who warned us that the British were coming and about an African American lady who refused to move to the back of a bus. We learn these stories in school to instill a sense of patriotism and pride in how far this country has come.
The history lessons we learn in our youth are watered down, boiled, passed through a sieve, nicely packaged, and sold to our respective school districts. History lessons are shaped by where you live in the country. We do not all learn the same history—this is by design. Even so, what our young, impressionable minds are fed is nowhere close to the ugly, often violent truth.
We get glimpses of the truth through movies and television. However, even our most cherished war films portray America as the hero. There are many in this country who see America this way, a just nation, the land of the free, the land of opportunity. But the real America, the real history of this country is anything but just. You wouldn’t know that if you solely relied on what America tells you through their carefully crafted history books.
History is shaped in real-time every day. You, along with millions of other people around the world can watch a live stream of some egotistical megalomaniac doing a Nazi salute at a presidential rally and in real time be told that what you saw was nothing more than a heartfelt gesture. Our newspapers cement an alternate reality into print, ensuring that some curious soul, 50 years from now, will read these words and wonder if the people of our time were mad to believe it was anything but an innocent gesture.
As I watch the media lie, twist, reshape, and reframe current events, I have to wonder: how many untruths have we been fed about American history? There are surely those out there who are working tirelessly to accurately make account of everything happening in the world today. Independent journalists, societally conscious bloggers, angry citizens posting on their socials hoping anyone will listen. But will their words be lost to time? Will we lose the perspective of the people and be left with alternative truths cemented by those who wish to control the narrative?
How can we ensure that this war of words ends with the truth of our time prevailing? What duty do we have as everyday citizens to ensure that our children and grandchildren will know the truth so that they may not repeat the mistakes of our time? What history will tell us depends on who holds the pen.
