Letter to the Editor: Who Gets to Tell America’s Story? by Regina Kekis

Who Gets to Tell America’s Story?

As an educator, now retired, I spent my career encouraging students to understand  that our history is more than a collection of dates and names. It is our shared story—one that helps us understand who we are, where we have succeeded, where we have failed, and how we can build a better future. I am alarmed by the growing effort to rewrite America’s history. History is not meant to be convenient or comforting. It is meant to be truthful. When government officials remove historical references, pressure museums to alter
exhibits, or encourage schools to present only a politically acceptable version of the past, they are not protecting us or our children. They are limiting what future generations are allowed to know. A government that decides which facts are acceptable is not preserving history—it is controlling the narrative. America has never been perfect. Our story includes extraordinary courage, innovation, and sacrifice. It also includes slavery, discrimination, injustice, and hard-fought struggles for equality. Those chapters do not weaken our nation. They remind us how ordinary Americans worked to make this country live up to its ideals. We learn little by pretending our history is flawless. We teach by loving our country enough to tell the truth about it. If we erase the difficult chapters, we also erase the courage of those who fought to overcome them. The question is not who gets to rewrite America’s story. The question is whether we will have the courage to protect the truth. Our history belongs to every American—not to any president, political party, or administration. Let’s keep it that way.

Regina Kekis