The appeal to history is most often a circular argument. History is usually but the name given to the official narrative of a culture. In our case, American history gives very little time to the voices of the people it has enslaved or plundered. If they are there at all, they are secondary voices, which implies their descendants are also adjuncts to the real heroes of history which are of European descent.

So it is no wonder that white Americans study history only to discover that we are that the best of nations and that ours is the only political and economic system that has ever worked. When the minority report is treated as an asterisk in history, you can bet the rights of minority groups will also end up consigned to the footnotes.