Black history is American history. Whitewashing it is unpatriotic.

Black History Month takes on special significance this year, as President Trump has ordered the termination of all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and ordered American educators to end “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schooling. 

At risk is not merely the month-long recognition of the contributions of Black Americans, established in 1976 by President Gerald Ford. At risk is the teaching of Black history in schools and universities and ultimately the teaching of fact-based history itself.

President Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” is based on the premise that schools indoctrinate children in “radical, anti-American ideologies.” These “radical, anti-American ideologies” include teaching about white privilege and systemic racism, things that remain a fact of life in the United States in the 21st century. 

The order directs the secretary of education, the secretary of defense, and the secretary of health and human services to submit to the president within 90 days an “ending indoctrination strategy” that includes a plan for eliminating federal funding or support for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K- 12 schools.” 

The order also reestablishes the “1776 Commission” to promote “patriotic education,” which the order defines as “a presentation of the history of America” that is grounded in a “unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles” and “a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history.” In other words, a patriotic education in history is one that glorifies America at the expense of actual history. 

“Patriotic” education would not teach that America’s foundational principles did not extend citizenship to women or nonwhite men. 

“Patriotic” education would not teach that an enslaved person, who was not a citizen, was counted by the Constitution as three-fifths of a free person for the purpose of establishing representation in Congress — thus increasing the power of the “slave states” in the national legislative body. That didn’t change until the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868. 

“Patriotic” education would not teach how Jim Crow laws were used to continue to oppress Black Americans from the 1880s to the 1960s. 

“Patriotic” education would not teach about poll taxes, literacy tests and other means of suppressing Black citizens’ right to vote. 

“Patriotic” education would not teach about lynchings or the terrorist activities of the KKK. 

“Patriotic” education would not teach about the bitter fight to desegregate schools in a quest for equal education regardless of race.

What would a “patriotic” education teach about the civil rights movement, or Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders who fought and bled and even died for equality among the races?  

Perhaps the president’s National Black History Month proclamation, signed Jan. 31, provides a clue. It mentions abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman but not the leaders of the modern civil rights movement such as MLK or John Lewis. The proclamation doesn’t say a word about the great civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court. It does name as an American hero the man appointed to the high court to fill the vacancy left by Marshall’s retirement: Justice Clarence Thomas, the second African American to serve — who has attacked the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, a 1954 case argued and won by Marshall.

True patriotism does not require whitewashing history. Patriots don’t run from the past, even when it presents moral dilemmas and events that are painful to learn about and understand. 

True patriotism requires the courage to make an honest appraisal of the past in order to truly understand where we came from, so we can appreciate where we are today as we embrace tomorrow.

A “patriotic” education of the kind required by the executive order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 schooling” is itself an indoctrination — one rooted in a “history” detached from reality. 

Patriotic Americans don’t shrink from the past in order to love our country, warts and all, to be proud of what America aspires to be and to commit to achieving those aspirations. 

Yet here we are. Diversity, equity and inclusion must be eradicated. “Patriotic” education is mandated. The nominee for education secretary, Linda McMahon, declined to say whether Black history courses will be allowed under Trump’s DEI policies. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered “Identity Months Dead at DoD,” announcing the end of Black history month and other cultural observances. And several states have banned or restricted Advanced Placement African American Studies courses in their high schools.

Make no mistake: Black history is American history. Whitewashing history is dangerous. It is the first step in erasing history, the hallmark of an authoritarian government — a form of government that is unfaithful to America’s founding principles and as un-American as it gets.