The philosopher George Santayana once wrote “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” From this statement, various derivatives have come about to the tune of “those who don’t know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”

Looking back at America’s history, it’s pretty clear that we’ve made our fair share of mistakes. In history classes across the country students learn about America’s history and some of our mistakes such as slavery and denying various people the right to vote. These are mistakes that have been corrected over time. However, what is arguably America’s greatest mistake is rarely taught in schools, and perhaps that’s because this is a mistake that still continues today.

The mistake that I am referring to is the genocide of the peoples indigenous to America. For the sake of clarity, I am not using the word “mistake” to refer to an accidental act, but rather to refer to a wrongful act.

From the time of the arrival of settlers to what would eventually become America, indigenous groups have actively been persecuted. The persecution has taken many forms including murder, driving them from their traditional homelands, disregarding legally binding treaties, and a denial of their self-autonomy and sovereignty. For all of these forms of persecution, it seems quite strange that most history classes simply gloss over this information.

I would argue that we ignore this aspect of our history because the persecution of indigenous groups is still an ongoing process today. If we were to acknowledge the history described above, we would be obligated to cease their persecution in the present, and begin to make corrections for past wrongs. As a nation we have grown prideful and don’t wish to admit to our mistakes. Plus, making amends to the indigenous groups for our transgressions would be costly, and in a world governed by money, we aren’t prone to do that either. For these reasons, it’s simply easier to ignore this part of our past, rather than to openly address it for the wrong that it truly is.

Everyone is concerned with the possibility of repeating past mistakes if we don’t know our history, but there is an even worse fate. Worse than repeating the mistake is to continually live in the mistake, which is the exact policy that America has employed in relation to our history with indigenous peoples.

So, when will we make a change to this policy? And, how do we make this policy change?