Mar 10, 2022 2 min read

Two interesting and opposing views on American history were included in the March 4 edition of the Observer-Reporter.

One was given by U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who noted he fails to recognize the history being taught today in public schools, colleges and universities.

The other was an opinion piece on Black History Month by Washington High School senior J’Juan Shabazz, noting that much of African-American history is regulated to one month instead of being part of the academic curriculum.

I am older than McCormick, but his words tell me he likely had an education much like mine. I attended school during the height of the Cold War and was taught Americans were the good guys who went to Europe and saved that continent from the Nazis. We learned Americans were better than Russians. Without our freedoms they were a hopeless people, devoid of God, inspiration or individualism.

Unfortunately this education did omit some of the darker events in our nation, as mentioned by Shabazz, including the death of Emmett Till and the slave trade.

Thanks to a daily newspaper, the evening news and my own curiosity I learned that we may have liberated concentration camps, but ours was among the nations refusing to take in large numbers of Jews escaping the Nazis. Or that the good guys fighting Communism in Vietnam massacred more than 500 defenseless people and children at My Lai. But I only learned of the Tulsa, Okla., massacre three years ago! I’m disturbed that such an event occurred during my lifetime but was left out of textbooks while I was repeatedly taught America is the best country in the world.

Don’t get me wrong: I am proud and honored to be an American, but we are quick to point out the specks in the eyes of our foes while not looking at the logs in our own eyes. America’s history includes our mistakes and failures. Owning up to them gives us the opportunity to do better.

Christie Campbell

Washington