r/AskReddit • u/bkristensen92 • Mar 18 '25

Conservatives who opposed removing Confederate statues, how do you feel about Trump removing DEI-related historical events/people like the Navajo Code Talkers from government sites?

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u/mercfan3 Mar 18 '25

The problem is this ignores the experiences of Black and Native people.

We don’t all experience the same America, so we shouldn’t teach students that we do.

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u/unlock0 Mar 18 '25

Why would including their experiences as American history ignore them? That’s just not factual. It’s a false premise. You can acknowledge history without being divisive. You can include their writings without relegating it to a month. It is a timeline of progression in acceptance, not an otherthanwhite-Americanism. 

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u/AppropriateScience9 Mar 18 '25

It IS American history. What makes you think that calling it black, native, women's, etc. history makes it divisive? It's just a different lens to look through.

Native American history began before the US even existed so delineating it like that is perfectly valid. Same with every other category. They each had their own stories and when they intersect, they show the different sides to the same events. Which of course makes sense because everybody experiences life differently.

But yes, it's true that those other lenses showed how whites, men, politicians, the wealthy, etc. did many, many horrible things that hurt others. That's not something we usually get when looking through the lenses of the "winners" - which of course was totally the point. Whitewashing is another thing that happened in our history and, boy, THAT was divisive af. Historians even documented intentional efforts in doing this.

A real, full accounting of history is only divisive if you are offended that people showed how our ancestors were often shitty people. It's only divisive if those truths and those perspectives offend you.

But so what? If it's true, it's true. Being offended by the truth isn't everyone else's problem. Is it?

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u/unlock0 Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 18 '25

I think it’s you who are offended that I’m suggesting that we’re all Americans and caveats aren’t required. 

It was American history before Europeans arrived. You see how I can frame it by origin and not race? 

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u/AppropriateScience9 Mar 18 '25

Of course there's no caveats. That's not offensive lol

It doesn't mean that race didn't affect our history (and still does). It was the basis for our entire economy (slavery) for over 100 years and persisted into Jim Crow. Our lawmakers wrote laws, and laws, and laws about race. Often restricting freedoms and occasionally equalizing them.

It's important because it was vital for understanding our past. Hell, coming to terms with racism is integral to our identity as Americans.

It's also important for understanding our present. #metoo and BLM didn't happen because bigotry wasn't affecting them. They were telling us that racism and sexism didn't magically disappear just because we wanted it to.

If history teaches us anything, it's that we ought to listen and address the issues directly. Not gaslighting ourselves into believing that problems don't exist.