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America at 250: A Struggle Over Historical Memory
Two months into his second term, President Trump signed an executive order to restore “truth and sanity to American history” as the administration seeks to reshape how American history is told and commemorated.
Activists point to examples such as the scrubbing of stories of Navajo Code Talkers in World War II from government websites, the painting over of Washington D.C.’s Black Lives Matter mural, and the Department of Defense’s removal of images and articles associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
David Blight of Yale University calls the order “a declaration of political war on historians,” adding, “It’s what the Nazis did.” While this language may initially seem hyperbolic, scholars and activists argue that the administration’s actions reflect an effort to erase non-white history.
As America approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the nation finds itself in the midst of a profound struggle over its historical narrative.
The Trump administration is attempting to “retell the history of America as a white-only drama, with no significant non-white participation,” said Sandy Close, Executive Director, American Community Media (ACoM) at a January 30 briefing. In response, ethnic media must be at the forefront of documenting community stories that might otherwise be ignored, distorted, or erased.
Rewriting history
“I think the quickest way that you can disappear people is to disappear their story or to soften it,” said Alan Spears, senior director at the National Parks Conservation Association, alluding to actions by the National Park Service to remove references to slavery and LGBTQ+ history from its webpages, and the removal in New York City, of signage at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge referencing slavery, Japanese American incarceration sites, and conflicts with Native Americans was removed.
During a hearing on the issue, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman said the President and his allies were attempting to use the 250th anniversary celebration to promote an alternate reality. “When you begin picking at words to soften and sanitize, to erase history,” said Spears, “that is a dangerous precipice to be on.”
Immigration Crackdowns and Community Fears
Immigrant communities across America are reeling from recent raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Although cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis have filed lawsuits in response to these actions, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees these raids, has continued enforcement efforts, at times reportedly ignoring judicial orders.
In this climate of conflict, advocates feel that the government is victimizing immigrant communities, making it increasingly important for communities to assert their rights and speak out against injustice.
The Role of Ethnic Media
The role of ethnic media has grown increasingly vital, given what many perceive as the reluctance of mainstream media to fully report on these developments. In the past year, national television networks such as ABC and CBS, as well as newspapers including The Washington Post and The New York Times, have faced lawsuits and threats of retaliation, including threats to revoke broadcasting licenses; these tactics have subdued efforts by mainstream media to pursue stories that critically examine the administration’s actions or document the lived experiences of communities of color.
Minority communities need to see themselves reflected with dignity and accuracy in the media, said Ann Burrough, President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), warning that authoritarian regimes often begin by attacking culture and history first. Curtailing freedom of speech and the First Amendment pressures minority communities to alter interpretations, avoid controversial histories, and conform to political expectations. Communities of color understand from lived experiences what happens when “racism is legalized, when constitutional rights are suspended, and when propaganda displaces truth.”
Burroughs drew parallels between recent ICE and CBP raids and the forced incarceration of 125,000 Japanese Americans in 1942 without due process. Museums such as JANM, she argued, serve to document “inconvenient truths by telling the stories of exclusion, resistance, survival and struggle.”
Clashes Between Community Narratives and Official Narratives
The systematic erasure of Black history offers lessons for the presen, stated Margaret Huang, Senior Fellow for The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Human Rights and former President and CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). She noted that in the South, there was a concerted effort to obscure the history of the Reconstruction era and the civil rights movement – a struggle to control the historical narrative in favor of white supremacy that has continued well into the mid-20th century.
Memorials to Confederate generals and leaders exist across the country, though the Civil War was largely fought in the South and the East Coast, the SPCL reported in 2018. Many of these monuments, erected long after the war ended, are part of what Huang describes as a “narrative of white supremacy” that resisted the civil rights movement. More than 2,000 such memorials remain in place today. Huang emphasized that the current administration has chosen to embrace “a history that eliminates and erases so many of us from our past.”
Ray Suarez, veteran journalist and author of “We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century,” argued that America is witnessing “the last kick of a dying mule,” as white grievance seeks to impose what he described as a “fantasy narrative” during the nation’s 250th anniversary. While acknowledging the federal government’s considerable power to influence public life and historical interpretation, Suarez emphasized that whiteness itself “is a contrived and engineered historical idea.” He reminded audiences that America has always been a multicultural nation and a country of immigrants from its inception.
Narrative Governance and the 250th Anniversary
Anneshia Hardy, Executive Director at Alabama Values used the term narrative governance” to describe the attempt to reassert a white-centered, orderly version of America that is untroubled by the violence and exclusion that shapes the nation. She stated that the current administration hopes to use the 250th anniversary to establish an increasingly narrow historical account.
Her organization is spearheading long-term narrative initiatives that bring together historians, political scientists, community storytellers, journalists, and cultural workers. to tell a fuller account that situates lived experiences within the broader historical and political context, creating space for multiple perspectives.
Relevance for the Desi Community
Migration from the Indian subcontinent to the United States is relatively recent compared to other immigrant communities, with the first wave arriving after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished race-based quotas. Between the 1970 to the 1990s, engineers, doctors, and academics pursued opportunities in America’s expanding industries and research institutions, and a significant surge of Indian immigrants followed during the technology boom of the late 1990s.
The recency of their arrival may have directly exposed Indian immigrants to the state-sanctioned discrimination faced by Black Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, and Latinos.
But recent immigration crackdowns have had a significant impact on the Indian-origin community, which is the third-largest group of undocumented immigrants in the United States. They have been targeted for detention and deportation, even in cases where individuals have no criminal record. Official figures indicate that over 3,800 Indians were deported in 2025.
The presence of ICE and CPB in our communities has created a climate of fear. Businesses have closed down, families avoid public spaces, and many individuals are experiencing emotional trauma, economic distress, and state-influenced otherization. Images of Aliya Rahman, a disabled Bangladeshi-American, being forcibly pulled out of her car in Minneapolis by armed agents have further intensified these fears.
Asserting our sense of belonging
As America commemorates 250 years of independence, the struggle over how its history is told has taken on renewed urgency. Historians, civil rights leaders, journalists, museums, and ethnic media are resisting efforts to sanitize or narrow the national narrative.
For immigrant and minority communities, including the desi community, the stakes are deeply personal. Preserving historical truth is not merely about the past; it shapes belonging, dignity, and citizenship in the present. The fight to tell inclusive and accurate stories is central to inclusion and equality, and ensuring that the American narrative reflects all of those who shape it.