In 2025 the Trump Administration ordered the removal of accurate historical information it deemed “anti-American ideology” from sites overseen by the National Park Service. They began by deleting information from NPS websites and social media. For example, they erased all mentions of trans Americans from the Stonewall National Monument website.
In early 2026, the Administration began the removal of historical exhibits, including one depicting the lives of people enslaved by George Washington at an NPS site in Philadelphia. They ordered the LGBTQ+ flag taken down at Stonewall National Monument, the site of the Stonewall Riots and the starting point of the first LGBTQ+ Pride parade.
Within days–not even weeks but days–the slavery exhibit was back up in Philadelphia and the Pride flag was waving brightly again by the Stonewall Inn. And why? Because the American people wouldn’t let their history be erased.
To those who want to plaster over all of America’s scars, there is something you do not understand. Our scars do not make us weaker. They demonstrate that we are capable, even as an entire nation, of healing.
Our nation’s scars are a source of pride and a chance for penance. If we do not admit our faults and failures we will never have a chance to correct them. And if we erase our story, we will lose all evidence proving that we fought so hard to be a better, more perfect union.
The most American thing we can do is strive to be better to one another and to ourselves. That is where the strength of a democracy lies: in community.
We don’t all have to agree on everything, but to build a nation of the people we have to accept one another as people. We have to see that LGBTQ+ Americans and Black Americans and all the other kinds of Americans are Americans, deserving of the same rights, dignities, and acknowledgement of their importance in our history.
We all deserve to have our stories told.
You can’t erase the history of one American without erasing the history of the United States of America. America isn’t one person’s idea; America is a collection of struggles and triumphs. America is a people.
In the coming days we the American people will need to continue to be vigilant about protecting our history from liars who want to erase it.
A leaked report came out March 2, 2026 revealing the plans that the Trump Administration has for removing historical and scientific information from even more NPS sites. This is only the beginning of their attack.
We will need to continue fighting, but I am coming to believe that that task is not a burden but a gift.
I grew up in the early 2000’s, when many people were proclaiming the end of history, that we were done with wars and societal struggles. These people were ignoring all the suffering taking place even at that time, and they have repeatedly been proven wrong about the end of war and suffering.
But I think that not just their assessment of the current state of the world was wrong. Their entire premise was wrong. There will never be an end to our struggles as a species.
Every generation will have to fight for its rights anew. Rights are not won and then forever granted. The right to govern ourselves, the right to vote, the right to have freedoms over our own bodies–these are not permanent rights.
As long as humans exist, there will always be other people or other forces that will cause us to struggle. But I don’t think that is a failure of our species; I think it is a sign that we will always need a purpose. We will always need something to fight for or against. Like the plot of a film, things get pretty boring once everything is resolved.
So we have the honor of continuing the fight that was passed down to us from our ancestors. The opportunity to do better. What a gift, to get to improve on what was given to us.
But there is no way to do that without being able to see accurately the nation we were handed. We can’t make any improvements without first acknowledging the flaws.
So here friend, here is my America. It has been ripped and patched up in many places, like a worn quilt. It has been neglected, and we need to scrub out some stains. At the moment, it is fragile and tattered. But its patchwork tells a story, one that represents us all, and I think that if we keep fighting to preserve it, it might just endure a little longer.
To those inspired to keep up the fight, here is a list of the leaked files detailing how the Administration is planning to censor NPS sites. Read them, spread them, speak out, and fight back.