Rewriting History

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Stansbury for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, national parks hold a sacred mandate. They are not just places of extraordinary beauty. They are places of truth. Their purpose is to preserve and interpret the full breadth of the American experience: the good, the bad, the inspiring, and the painful.

Erasing history doesn't make it disappear. It makes us more likely to repeat it. History shows us in this country and around the world that when governments begin scrubbing uncomfortable truths from public spaces, they are often moving toward something darker and more dangerous.

People don't visit our national parks to not only marvel at the mountains or coastlines. They come to understand who we are. They come to confront the complex tapestry of our past: our triumphs, our failures, and the lessons that bind them together.

That is why the recent removal of the interpretive materials titled ``Life Under Slavery,'' ``The Dirty Business of Slavery,'' and signage addressing climate change should alarm every American.

These changes don't make us more patriotic. They make us more ignorant. Let's be clear: These materials were not factually incorrect. They weren't misleading. They weren't partisan. They were accurate reflections of our history and our present. They are histories that make some people uncomfortable, but discomfort is not a justification for censorship.

If we allow history to be erased in our national parks, places meant to endure beyond political cycles, we normalize the idea that facts are optional and truth is negotiable.

That is not just an attack on historians or park rangers. It is an attack on democracy itself, and the timing could not be more ironic.

As we approach America's 250th birthday, our national parks should be a place of reflection, learning, and honest celebration. Instead, we are fighting simply to ensure that these public lands continue to represent the full dimension of the American experience.

National parks are not propaganda tools. They are not instruments of partisan comfort. They exist to preserve and interpret the full American story, not just the parts that make some politicians feel at ease.

That is why the work of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks is so critical. This nonpartisan organization is made up of more than 4,800 current, former, and retired National Park Service professionals, people who have devoted over 50,000 years of combined service to caring for our most valuable, natural, and cultural resources. These are experts. These are the stewards of our shared history.

We owe it to them and to future generations to protect the integrity of our national parks because a nation confident in its values does not hide from its history; it learns from it. It tells the truth, even when the truth is hard.

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