Teaching History in America

Floor Speech

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Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud African American. I rise today because we are into Black History Month, the second day, and I rise today because I am very much concerned about history in this country. For you see, Mr. Speaker, there are efforts across the length and breadth of the country to distort history and, in many instances, not to allow it to be taught.

Can you imagine Black history not being taught in this country? That would make Black History Month more important, but my hope is that at some point we don't need Black History Month because history will be taught every day and there won't be a need to accentuate the things that have happened to African Americans in this country. But the notion that we can't teach the true history of what happened to us in the United States of America and what happened to the people in the United States of America is offensive.

And it is not just about African Americans, by the way. It is also about Jewish people, not being able to teach what happened to Jewish people. Can you imagine more than six million people murdered, and we can't teach this in our schools? The number is not known truly. Huge number. And what happened to them? How were they killed? They weren't just murdered in concentration camps. Many of them were murdered in their homes, in their yards, in the ghettos. And that can't be taught?

If we can't teach Black history, we probably won't be able to teach the Trail of Tears and what happened to the indigenous Americans, how they were harmed by virtue of the State itself intentionally causing them to receive certain diseases. We won't be able to teach what happened to the Asians who came to this country, internment camps.

Black History Month is very important to us. We have to have it, but more than have Black History Month, we have got to have the history of what has happened taught because those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the lessons of history.

And finally this: This House needs to go on record. We need to go on record. We need to take a stand. We need to let the world know that we will support the teaching of history in schools. To do anything less is to cause us to be placed in the position of having not lived up to the promises of this country. We should do it. I hope that this House will go on record appropriately doing so.

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