{"id":79225,"date":"2026-02-14T12:15:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T20:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=79225"},"modified":"2026-02-14T12:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T20:15:47","slug":"on-the-cusp-of-americas-250th-communities-push-to-reclaim-their-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=79225","title":{"rendered":"On the Cusp of America\u2019s 250th, Communities Push to Reclaim Their Narratives"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_65 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_65\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/author\/selen-ozturk\/\">Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><i class=\"tdb-date-icon tdc-font-fa tdc-font-fa-calendar\"><\/i><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-02-12T17:29:15-08:00\">Feb 12, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_67 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_67\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>As the Trump administration pushes to rewrite the nation\u2019s history, communities across the country are pushing back against who gets to tell it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_68 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"wpb_video_wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" class=\"td-youtube-player\" title=\"On Cusp of 250th Anniversary \u2013 The Push to Reclaim Community Narratives | News Briefing | 1\/30\/26\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bOaeuLAEtnE?enablejsapi=1&amp;feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;vq=hd720&amp;&amp;&amp;\" width=\"100%\" height=\"560\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-18=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_69 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><em>Video by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@americancommunitymedia\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ACoM<\/a>\u00a0| Complete ACoM News Briefing<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As the Trump administration pushes to rewrite the nation\u2019s history, communities across the country are pushing back against who gets to tell it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a push we are witnessing not only on the streets of Minneapolis, but in efforts to resist an escalating series of executive orders to cancel exhibits at national museums, rename national parks and censor school curricula,\u201d said ACoM Co-Director Sandy Close, introducing a briefing highlighting these efforts as July 4th approaches.<\/p>\n<p>Nor are these orders limited to this second administration. Two in 2020 alone include\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/executive-order\/13950\">Executive Order 13950<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cCombating Race and Sex Stereotyping), restricting federal agencies, contractors, and grantees including museums and schools from using frameworks associated with systemic racism or \u201cdivisive concepts,\u201d and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/11\/05\/2020-24793\/establishing-the-presidents-advisory-1776-commission\">Executive Order 13958<\/a>\u00a0(Establishing the President\u2019s Advisory 1776 Commission), signaling federal pressure on schools, museums and cultural institutions to abandon critical historical narratives in favor of a \u201cpatriotic\u201d version of American history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re nearing the 250th anniversary of the United States, and it requires all of us to ask a fundamental question: Who gets to decide what this country remembers, and who gets to decide what it forgets or erases?\u201d said Ann Burroughs, CEO of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.janm.org\/\">Japanese American National Museum (JANM)<\/a>\u00a0and chair of the International Board of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/\">Amnesty International<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio  is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper video-seo-youtube-embed-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player\" data-id=\"HP_hW_A4ofM\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-embed-loader\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-id=\"HP_hW_A4ofM\" aria-label=\"Load YouTube video\"><picture class=\"video-seo-youtube-picture\"><source class=\"video-seo-source-to-maybe-replace\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/HP_hW_A4ofM\/maxresdefault.jpg\" media=\"(min-width: 801px)\" \/><source class=\"video-seo-source-hq\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/HP_hW_A4ofM\/hqdefault.jpg\" media=\"(max-width: 800px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/HP_hW_A4ofM\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player-play\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>Video by ACoM | Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and chair of the International Board of Amnesty International, discusses Trump\u2019s attacks on museums and history and the danger this signals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For Burroughs, the institutional stakes hit close to home.<\/p>\n<p>The Japanese American National Museum was founded to document the incarceration of more than 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II: \u201cThey were imprisoned without due process. Communities were destroyed. They were dispossessed, and essentially had to rebuild themselves,\u201d she said, adding that the museum exists \u201cto ensure that the history of the incarceration of Japanese Americans is never forgotten, but also that it never happens to anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As museums face federal pressure, \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing today are the echoes of that history,\u201d Burroughs continued: \u201cWe\u2019ve faced incredible pressures as museums to alter interpretation, avoid histories, conform to political expectations. We\u2019ve also been further weaponized by having our funding threatened \u2026 When civic space is shrunk, one of the first things that goes is First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret Huang, senior fellow for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/civilrights.org\/\">The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0and former CEO of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/\">Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a>, highlighted another field where this civic pressure is mounting: public monuments.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Civil War being fought largely in the South and along the East Coast, \u201cthere are Confederate memorials in nearly every state in the country \u2026 and these memorials were put into place not after the war but \u201c60, 80 years later, when the narrative of white supremacy was very much at the forefront in fighting back against the Civil Rights\u00a0 Movement,\u201d as activists nationwide demanded that Jim Crow laws be overturned, she explained.<\/p>\n<p>Though over 100 Confederate memorials have been removed since 2015, over 2,000 still remain nationwide.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio  is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper video-seo-youtube-embed-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player\" data-id=\"E0osT96OYrU\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-embed-loader\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-id=\"E0osT96OYrU\" aria-label=\"Load YouTube video\"><picture class=\"video-seo-youtube-picture\"><source class=\"video-seo-source-to-maybe-replace\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/E0osT96OYrU\/maxresdefault.jpg\" media=\"(min-width: 801px)\" \/><source class=\"video-seo-source-hq\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/E0osT96OYrU\/hqdefault.jpg\" media=\"(max-width: 800px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/E0osT96OYrU\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player-play\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>Video by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@americancommunitymedia\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ACoM<\/a>\u00a0| Margaret Huang, senior fellow for The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Human Rights, and former president and CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center, discusses the proliferation of Confederate Memorials well after the end of the Civil War.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Huang also pointed to U.S. Army\u2019s decision last June that military bases that had been changed to remove references to Confederate generals have these names reverted: \u201cThis administration has decided to revert back to people who actually fought against our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a case of resistance in Montgomery, Alabama, she highlighted the work of artist Michelle Browder, who has campaigned to remove a statue of J. Marion Sims, a 19th-century doctor who developed modern gynecological surgical techniques by operating without anesthesia on enslaved women.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe developed the tools of this practice. He developed the procedures and surgeries of this practice, and he did so by abusing women, enslaved women who he specifically chose because of their inability to reject or demand that they not be included in his efforts,\u201d Huang said.<\/p>\n<p>After failing to persuade lawmakers to remove the statue, Browder built the Mothers of Gynecology Monument, a memorial to three of the women subjects \u2014 Anarcha, Betsy and Lucy \u2014 using welded metal, including metal from gynecological tools.<\/p>\n<p>Proceeds from visitors now fund a mobile health clinic providing care in a state where, Huang noted, \u201c44 counties offer no obstetric or gynecological care at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio  is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper video-seo-youtube-embed-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player\" data-id=\"dEnfwk22E3Q\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-embed-loader\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-id=\"dEnfwk22E3Q\" aria-label=\"Load YouTube video\"><picture class=\"video-seo-youtube-picture\"><source class=\"video-seo-source-to-maybe-replace\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/dEnfwk22E3Q\/maxresdefault.jpg\" media=\"(min-width: 801px)\" \/><source class=\"video-seo-source-hq\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/dEnfwk22E3Q\/hqdefault.jpg\" media=\"(max-width: 800px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/dEnfwk22E3Q\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player-play\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>Video by ACoM | Ray Suarez, journalist and author of \u201cWe Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century\u201d, discusses the term \u201cLegacy American,\u201d or \u201cHeritage American,\u201d and how it\u2019s being wielded to exclude and devalue non-white and recent-immigrant communities in America.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Journalist Ray Suarez described this current moment\u2019s clash of narratives as a broader attempt to redefine who qualifies as American.<\/p>\n<p>He cited the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where marchers chanted \u201cYou will not replace us.\u201d That phrase, he said, captures a deeper \u201canxiety that being able to dictate who is American, being a gatekeeper to say \u2018Yes, this person is one of us, and this person isn\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Suarez also pointed to the recent popularization of the term \u201cHeritage Americans\u201d by conservative commentators.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining the term, he said \u201cIf you\u2019ve been here for a couple of generations, your Americanness is more valid, more real, your story is more notable and honorable than mine.\u201d But, he argued, \u201cAmerica has been multicultural since day one. It always has been. It always will be.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio  is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper video-seo-youtube-embed-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player\" data-id=\"hLPd89dP164\">\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-embed-loader\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-id=\"hLPd89dP164\" aria-label=\"Load YouTube video\"><picture class=\"video-seo-youtube-picture\"><source class=\"video-seo-source-to-maybe-replace\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/hLPd89dP164\/maxresdefault.jpg\" media=\"(min-width: 801px)\" \/><source class=\"video-seo-source-hq\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/hLPd89dP164\/hqdefault.jpg\" media=\"(max-width: 800px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/hLPd89dP164\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"video-seo-youtube-player-play\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>Video by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@americancommunitymedia\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ACoM<\/a>\u00a0| Anneshia Hardy, Executive Director at Alabama Values, explains why maintaining equality and democratic values in America requires consistent effort.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you think of this as a canvas on which three empires fought a multi-century shoving match \u2026 you think of American history as a different thing,\u201d he added. \u201cLatino history is American history, and American history is Latino history \u2026 The idea that we\u2019re just Johnny-come-lately to the American story is one that\u2019s very convenient for this project of creating this new white centrality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anneshia Hardy, executive director of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/alvalues.org\/\">Alabama Values<\/a>, described this project as a coordinated effort to \u201ccontrol historical meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re seeing national museums being pressured to cancel or sanitize their exhibits. We\u2019re seeing school curricula being restricted in the name of neutrality or limiting \u2018divisive concepts,\u2019\u201d Hardy said. \u201cNone of this is described as erasure \u2026 Instead, it is being framed as common sense or patriotism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn practice, this is narrative governance \u2026 It is an attempt to reassert a version of America that is white-centered, orderly, unbothered by the violence and exclusion that made this nation possible,\u201d she continued, noting as example that in Alabama \u201cthere isn\u2019t a single state-funded museum dedicated to documenting the full history of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To counter this, Hardy has launched her own project, \u201cThis Is America,\u201d bringing together historians, political scientists, journalists and community storytellers to document U.S. realities in advance of the semiquincentennial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal is not to produce a single sanitized story of the nation. It is to tell the full story honestly, rigorously, in community,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery expansion of freedom that we point to today exists because people forced the country to move \u2026 When we stop pushing, the nation doesn\u2019t stand still. It slides backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis country is not going to turn the corner on its own,\u201d Hardy added. \u201cIt only moves when enough people decide that maintaining humanity is worth more work than maintaining power.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySelen Ozturk Feb 12, 2026 As&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79226,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79225\/revisions\/79226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}