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June 13, 2025
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August 15, 2025Removing Documents Will Not Change History
A presidential executive order removing documents will not change history. Nor removing portraits and monuments from national museums and federal properties while replacing or restoring others in public spaces.
The executive order was signed under the guise of “restoring truth and sanity to American history by revitalizing key cultural institutions and reversing the spread of divisive ideology.”
But is that the real intent?
The Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum, educational and research complex, opened the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016. It is being targeted. Removing documents will not change history.
It appears that the executive order is an attempt to erase the factual experiences, treatment and contributions of Blacks, women and others by removing documents and other evidence from the nation’s museums and institutions.
Also, it’s purpose is to revive and glorify military leaders that led the fight to continue the oppression and disenfranchisement of Blacks.
What is the lasting purpose of removing documents or restoring monuments? The removal of some of the Confederate monuments in recent years has not made a difference in making things better. More importantly, removal of Confederate monuments has not erased the ugly history of America they represent. Removing documents will not change history either.
Removing Documents Will Not Change History (flysnow/iStock Images)
So, what is the priority and purpose of renaming and restoring visible symbols of an inglorious past under the guise of American gallantry?
Displaying and honoring the vestiges of that period in public squares and other public spaces of southern cities, towns and state capitals only serve to make a statement that this part of American history is laudable and something to be proud of.
The long-standing and appropriate practice has been that American history is preserved in national and local museums where it is accessible to anyone who would like to revisit our past, visit it for the first time, or learn anew the real facts.
The goal should not be to destroy, recast, or deny history, but to learn from it.
There is a lot to be concerned about when it comes to these insidious efforts to rewrite the history of America. Removing documents will not change history, nor altering any other facts.
We need to make concerted efforts to preserve the facts, major periods and their impact, and to make that information available to future generations.
Future generations need to know the complete American history — the good, the bad, to build a promising future.
Portions of this article first appeared in The Missouri Independent.
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