our story? or was I only dreaming...

Towards the end of class last Tuesday we touched on a very interesting subtopic: History and its significance to our culture.

We discussed how histories have evolved to become a resource. But I never really stopped to think about the fact that our definition of ‘history’ is pretty much solely political history. We all know that the victors write the books and it makes me question how much we really ‘know’ about our past.

Now we all know about the disgusting treatment of the Native Americans on the Trail of Tears(and this is mainly because the Europeans like to keep reminding us)… But here’s a story I’m going to guess you’ve never heard before:

Black Elk was the leader of the Lakota people in South Dakota. He took a spiritual journey through the black hills and to the peak of a mountain. Following this journey, the Lakota people associated the mountain as sacred and it became a steadfast pillar of remembrance watching over their lands.

At least until the U.S. government decided it would be a great idea to carve the busts of the great presidents into the mountain, in order to attract tourists to South Dakota. Even today, there is no plaque or statue, that offers any regrets on this decision. Obviously there is not a whole lot we can do about the situation now (unless we see a drastic increase in acid rain ph), however our government should first recognize the error so that it can reconcile the error.

Our history, like just about every nation, hides events that do not push us towards progression. Our quaint anecdotes and witty political one-liners that we have grown up to reading in our textbooks have merely created an environment where start-up companies today have to lie and invent ‘cute’ out-of-the-garage stories to be taken seriously. Take Youtube for example. As Americans, it’s not enough that the creators made an incredible website that totally transformed accessibility to information, they needed a good starter story for the public.

The connection between history and politics and identity say a lot about our culture. And frankly, it says that our real past can be forgotten so long as we are moving forward.