Our national identity has been handed down as a heirloom in need of repair. The flag hanging in classrooms across the nation was planted on inhabited land. It morphed and grew stars as campaigns of genocide and slavery fueled its expansion. To celebrate the victors is to reify the violence. Hundreds of years have passed and yet the brutality of our founding continues to shape us.

It is time to stop laundering American history. Perhaps then we may begin to heal.