Erasure
We shouldn’t be afraid of the facts. Better decisions are made if we are open to letting the facts change our minds.
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Erasing History
Don Moynihan is a professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and he recently wrote about the Trump Administration’s efforts to whitewash American history. [1]
Centuries ago, the nation started out as one for white men – those that owned other humans as property and denied women and others their rights in self-governance.
While these may have been the standards of the day, time progresses, and the world changes. That change meant Americans changed their views about how they wanted to govern themselves. Some resisted the change – particularly those in power – and it took various episodes, including civil war, to make that change hold.
As we know more about how the world works, we learn that differences, whether of opinion or faith or skin color or biology, do not make someone less worthy as a person and less worthy of the rights and freedoms we support for all people.
Yes, all people.
The key to change is increasing our knowledge about how the world works. When we know more, we fold that into our thinking, and it can change our decision making for the better.
Knowing our history is critical to progressing as a self-governing nation, and we shouldn’t be afraid of facts that help us understand. It’s critical to know what happened and what people decided in the past to inform our decisions today; we are better decision makers when we know the truth instead of being forced to know only the side those in power would like us to know.
Erasing history is all about control – the type George Orwell wrote about in 1984:
The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink. [2]
Here are some recent examples of these efforts by Republican erasure:
Medal of Honor recipient Major General Charles Rogers [4]
In 1970, President Richard Nixon awarded then-Lt. Colonel Charles Calvin Rogers the Congressional Medal of Honor, “the United States' highest award for military valor in action.” [3] Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty… while serving as commanding officer, 1st Battalion, during the defense of a forward fire support base” during the Vietnam War. Among his acts of valor, “Lt. Col. Rogers with complete disregard for his safety moved through the hail of fragments from bursting enemy rounds to the embattled area. He aggressively rallied the dazed artillery crewmen to man their howitzers and he directed their fire on the assaulting enemy.” [4]
He would eventually reach the rank for Major General, and “to this day, he is the highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient.” [5][6]
However, on March 15, the Department of Defense website was changed, removing the webpage on General Rogers and changing the URL link from “medal-of-honor” to “deimedal-of-honor”. [7]
Archived version of “African American History” page at the Arlington National Cemetery website. [10]
From BBC reporting, “Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed from its website information and educational materials about the history of black and female service members.” [8]
Current version of “African American History” page at the Arlington National Cemetery website. [11]
From separate MSNBC reporting, “Arlington National Cemetery has purged its website of pages about notable Black, Hispanic and women veterans, as well as information about the Civil War and Black history, as the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to remove references to “diversity and inclusion” on government webpages.
“An archived version of the website’s educational page on African American history at the cemetery, for example, features a range of learning materials on the Civil Rights Movement and Black war heroes. That information no longer appears on the page.” [9][10][11]
Archived version of Navy’s “One Navy” page. [15] These resources are no longer available on the Navy’s website
The United States Navy website has stripped of information about African Americans [12] and women [13] in the Navy.
This includes the pages for civil rights activist Medgar Evers, an Army veteran after which the Military Sealift Command's dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Medgar Evers is named, and computer scientist pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, who was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and used this theory to develop COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today.
These pages are no longer available on the Navy website. In fact, the whole category described as “One Navy” is completely gone. [14][15]
Oklahoma lawmakers are being asked to ratify a new social studies agenda approved by the education board that would require high-schoolers to review baseless claims related to President Trump’s 2020 election loss. [16]
From local reporting in the Oklahoma Voice:
“A quiet addition by the Oklahoma State Department of Education to add “discrepancies” in the 2020 elections to proposed academic standards for social studies has raised questions at the state Capitol as lawmakers weigh whether to approve them.
“If enacted, the social studies standards would mandate the topics Oklahoma public schools must teach to students…
“The new proposal… would require that high school students ‘identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results’ including ‘sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.’” [17]
Aliens and Sedition
The Trump Administration is arguing for sweeping power to declare unilaterally anyone they perceive as a threat and deport them with no limitation from the other branches of government. From a recent court filing by the Administration:
“Beyond the statute, the President’s inherent Article II authority is plainly violated by the district court’s order. As a function of his inherent Article II authority to protect the nation, the President may determine that [the foreign terrorist organization Tren de Argua] represents a significant risk to the United States, that it is intertwined and advancing the interests of a foreign government in a manner antithetical to the interests of the United States, and that its members should be summarily removed from this country as part of that threat.” [18]
A historical parallel for these perceived authorities comes from Willamette University history professor Seth Cotlar:
“In 1798 the Federalists rallied behind the Alien and Sedition Acts--laws designed to punish journalists they deemed unfairly critical and deport immigrants they saw as a threat to the nation. The conservative media of its day built support for these laws by circulating batsh** conspiracy theories.” [19]
Another interesting parallel from Cotlar regarding the powerful using the law to redefine history:
“The 1923 Oregon legislature was colloquially known as the "Klan legislature" because the majority of members were either Klan members or sympathizers. One bill they passed required that history education be suitably patriotic, outlawing materials that spoke "slightingly" of the founders.” [20]
From the 1923 law: “It shall be the duty of every board, commission, committee or officer charged with the selection of text-books for use in the public schools to select and install text-books on American history and civil government which adequately stress the services rendered by the men who achieved our national independence, who established our form of constitutional government, and how preserved our federal union. No text-book shall be used in our school which speaks slightingly of the founders of the republic, or of the men who preserved the union, or which belittles or undervalues their work.”
This was the same time when Oregon embarked on passing an Alien Land Law barring Japanese land ownership [21] and amending a eugenics law that stood for 60 years in Oregon, leading to the forced sterilization of over 2,600 Oregonians. [22]
Regarding the Federalist Party’s support of the Alien and Sedition Act, the Federalists lost the election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson, never won the presidency again, and died out as a political party.
Point to Remember
“Stand your ground, or you're caving”
- Former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissman, discussing Donald Trump's attempts to have a “chilling effect” on judges, courts, and law firms with his repeated attacks on the rule of law including a ranting, politicized speech at the DOJ. [23]
Self-governance is about working together and having a system for figuring out how to resolve inevitable disputes. The American system of self-governance works, but only if we engage the checks and balances to keep us working together.
Elections are how we decide who makes public decisions on our behalf. Click here to pre-order Local Democracy in America!…
Narratives
The book I’m reading or movie I’m watching
“Andor” - on Disney+
In an era filled with danger, deception, and intrigue, Cassian Andor embarks on a path that is destined to turn him into a Rebel hero. [24]
This 12-episode Star Wars story is part of the Star Wars franchise and a prequel to the film Rogue One (2016), which in turn is a prequel to the original Star Wars film (1977). The series follows thief-turned-rebel spy Cassian Andor during the five years that lead to the events of the two films, exploring how he becomes radicalized against the Galactic Empire and how the wider Rebel Alliance is formed. [25]
I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and for me, this is the best of the entire genre. It has great characters, action, and messaging about resistance against tyranny. The struggle between freedom and tyranny is an ever-present human story, and Tony Gilroy does an amazing job with the storylines, richness, and complexity of the story.
Season 2 of Andor is arriving April 22 – can’t wait!
GIF Game
Actor Daniel Dae Kim speaks in front of the House Judiciary Committee in 2021 [26]
Notes and Sources
[1] – Don Moynihan, “Whitewashing American History,” Can We Still Govern? March 15, 2025, https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whitewashing-american-history
[2] – George Orwell, 1984, originally published 1949, Signet Classics, 2017, part II, chapter IX, p 216.
[3] – “The Medal of Honor,” Congressional Medal of Honor Society, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.cmohs.org/medal
[4] – “Charles Calvin Rogers,” Congressional Medal of Honor Society, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/charles-c-rogers
[5] – Katie Lange, “Medal of Honor Monday: Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers,” November 1, 2021, archived on March 5, 2025, from Department of Defense website via Internet Archive Wayback Machine, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250305165958/https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/medal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/
[6] – Kris Cotariu Harper, EdD, “Lieutenant Colonel Charles Calvin Rogers: The Most Senior Black Soldier Ever Awarded the Medal of Honor,” Congressional Medal of Honor Society, February 1, 2021, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/medal-of-honor-recipient-profile/charles-calvin-rogers/
[7] – “404 Page Not Found,” U.S. Department of Defense, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/medal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/ redirected to https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/deimedal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/
[8] - Brandon Drenon, “Arlington Cemetery strips content on black and female veterans from website,” BBC News, March 15, 2025, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz03gjnxe25o
[9] – Clarissa-Jan Lim, “Trump’s anti-diversity push comes for Arlington Cemetery’s rich, diverse history,” MSNBC News, March 15, 2025, https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/arlington-cemetery-black-veterans-women-history-website-dei-trump-rcna196586
[10] – “African American History at Arlington National Cemetery,” Arlington National Cemetery, archived on January 26, 2025, from Arlington National Cemetery website via Internet Archive Wayback Machine, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250126164136/https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Themes/African-American-History
[11] - “African American History at Arlington National Cemetery,” Arlington National Cemetery, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Themes/African-American-History
[12] - “The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy,” Naval History and Heritage Command, archived on February 14, 2025, from Naval History and Heritage Command website via Internet Archive Wayback Machine, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250214205338/https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/one-navy/african-americans.html
[13] - “Women in the U.S. Navy,” Naval History and Heritage Command, Naval History and Heritage Command, archived on February 14, 2025, from Naval History and Heritage Command website via Internet Archive Wayback Machine, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250220041524/http://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/one-navy.html
[14] – “Page Not Found,” Naval History and Heritage Command, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/one-navy/african-americans/medgar-evers.html
[15] - “One Navy,” Naval History and Heritage Command, archived on February 20, 2025, from Naval History and Heritage Command website via Internet Archive Wayback Machine, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250220041524/http://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/one-navy.html
[16] – Frances Vinall, “Oklahoma proposes teaching standards suggesting 2020 election ‘discrepancies’,” Washington Post, March 15, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/15/oklahoma-social-studies-2020-election/
[17] - Nuria Martinez-Keel, “Proposed Oklahoma social studies standards suggest ‘discrepancies’ in 2020 election,” Oklahoma Voice, March 13, 2025, https://oklahomavoice.com/2025/03/13/proposed-oklahoma-social-studies-standards-suggest-discrepancies-in-2020-election/
[18] - J.G.G. v. Donald Trump, 25-5067, (D.C. Cir. Mar 15, 2025) ECF No. 1208720416, https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.41844/gov.uscourts.cadc.41844.01208720416.0.pdf
[19] – Seth Cotlar [@sethcotlar.bsky.social], Bluesky, March 15, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3lkh7ncogi22j
[20] – Seth Cotlar [@sethcotlar.bsky.social], Bluesky, February 23, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3livjgl7yks2v
[21] – “Oregon and the Roaring Twenties,” Oregon Secretary of State, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ww1/Pages/oregon-roaring-twenties.aspx
[22] - Deborah Josefson, “Oregon's governor apologises for forced sterilisations,” National Library of Medicine, British Medical Journal, 325(7377):1380, December 14, 2002, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_anti-sterilization_league/
[23] – “'Stand your ground, or you're caving': Weissmann reacts to Trump's attacks on rule of law,” The Last Word, MSNBC, March 14, 2025, https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/-stand-your-ground-or-you-re-caving-weissmann-reacts-to-trump-s-attacks-on-rule-of-law-234494533577
[24] – “Andor,” IMDB, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9253284/
[25] – “Andor (TV Series),” Wikipedia, retrieved March 16, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andor_(TV_series)
[26] – “Actor Daniel Dae Kim Speaks Out Against Discrimination Against Asian Americans,” C-SPAN, March 18, 2021, https://www.c-span.org/clip/house-committee/actor-daniel-dae-kim-speaks-out-against-discrimination-against-asian-americans/4952799
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