“America has not yet changed because so many think it need not change”: My Trip to Washington D.C.
Recently, my son has been obsessed with the presidents, and he has wanted to visit Washington D.C. to see the portraits, memorials, and much more. As a result of his interest, we took a trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials and see the sites. Walking through D.C., I started thinking, again, about the ways we construct and interact with history. Specifically, I thought about the role that history plays in our construction of the future and the ways that the critical examination of history works to lead us to a better future while the mythologization of a non-existent past leads to oppression and repression. From our first day as we visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture to our final stop at Arlington National Cemetery, I constantly thought about the ways we approach history and the importance of accurately knowing the past and critiquing it. I constantly thought about Frederick Douglass who wrote, “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.”
On our first day, we visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and we were surrounded by countless other visitors. Working our way through the opening section, which detailed the Nazi’s rise to power and initial…
