Black History Month is meant to be a celebration of the achievements of Black Americans, in spite of our country’s history of blatant, intentional racism. Despite that intention, the American narrative surrounding the enslaving of Black Americans has always attempted to rewrite our past, generating a kinder, gentler image of slavery.
President Donald Trump and his appointees are the embodiment of that attempt to rewrite Black history. Recently, President Trump and his United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania appointee, William McSwain, mocked the history that serves as the foundation for Black History Month. While a kinder interpretation of their actions might say that their understanding of past and current U.S. history is limited, their distortion of Black history during this month brings to mind an Orwellian warning — who controls the past controls the future, and who controls the present controls the past.