President Donald Trump taking office and looking to “Make America Great Again” raises the question: What exactly is the United States’ “great” history that our president prides himself on restoring? 

It’s unclear if Trump’s “great” America was the one of the slave trade, Japanese internment camps or the CIA’s imperialist efforts abroad, but his attitude toward this nation’s history is anything but honest.

A democratic nation such as the U.S. must confront its past if it hopes to move forward in any semblance of a progressive manner. But unlike many other countries with tainted history, our country has chosen to ignore history rather than atone for it.

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Post-WWII Germany paid reparations to families of Holocaust victims, and post-apartheid South Africa adopted a new constitution. Meanwhile, the U.S. has made it nearly impossible to authentically teach the stories of LGBTQIA+, Black and other marginalized people in schools by enacting “Don’t Say Gay” laws and banning classes about African American studies in Florida.  

Democracy cannot exist without an agreed-upon code of ethical standards and pillars from which a free and fair government can be constructed. In the U.S., these standards are enshrined in our Constitution, but Trump is tearing apart the validity of our nation’s ethics under his new administration.

If one treats pure facts as negotiable, then any hopes of a productive conversation vanish. By calling critical race theory “psychological abuse” and an attempt to “brainwash” students, Trump is throwing historical evidence of systemic racism out the window. As soon as the validity of facts is questioned, the truth becomes susceptible to disassembly. 

While Trump’s revisionist history may seem reserved for conservative Americans alone, denial has been a common theme of U.S. institutions for decades. Although legally mandated top-down censorship like that imposed by Florida’s government presents a real issue, it creates a wider culture of denial.

Self-imposed revisionist history is a direct result of Trump’s precedent of refuting fact. It’s become acceptable for organizations to shed any semblance of responsibility for their past, making accountability a thing of the past. 

Even USC, a school with moderately progressive values in today’s age, has perpetuated this pattern. The statue of Judge Robert Widney, a man with ties to a lynch mob, is set to be brought back by USC to stand in front of Alumni House once again. 

Robert’s brother, Joseph Widney, is celebrated for founding USC’s medical school and being the University’s second president. His legacy on campus seems to neglect the fact that he wrote the book “Race Life of the Aryan Peoples,” which includes white supremacist theory and denounces the possibility of Black and white people being equal. 

Additionally, track and field coach Dean Cromwell was among those criticized for anti-semitism and anti-Black views after eliminating certain runners from the 1936 Olympic team. USC’s track and field was named for Cromwell for over three decades until it was renamed to honor Allyson Felix in 2023. 

The Black Lives Matter movement proved a catalyst for reexamining history through the lens of modern race theory. While decisions such as stripping the name of President Rufus B. von KleinSmid from the school were a step in the right direction, there remains a long road of atonement ahead. 

“We find it necessary to reckon with the history of white supremacy associated with the institution we hold dear,” said the Trojan Knights in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. “We cannot and should not forget our history.”

While USC’s history is a microcosm of the nation, this change in how we observe our past must occur at all stages, no matter the size.

If we ever expect to move forward as a nation, we must, at the very least, acknowledge the transgressions that have plagued our history. Atonement, whether through reparations or alternative approaches, cannot be the subject of discussion until first admissions are made.