25 Aug 2025 The importance of the right to memory

Visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is harrowing. It records, in photos, artifacts, quotes, and stories, the days and months following the dropping of the first atomic bomb on 6 August 1945.

Intellectually, we all know the death and destruction was horrific. Coming face-to-face with eyewitness accounts sears that horror into one’s mind and heart – precisely meeting the museum’s purpose to ensure each visitor is committed to “no more Hiroshimas.” The museum preserves a vital moment in time for all those who were not there, particularly younger generations, lest we forget, and do not learn from, our history.

The vast majority of history, of course, is written by the victors. Our own understanding of our national history and global perspective is already skewed by what the political, economic, and military powers endorsed as the record of events. The voices and experiences of the vanquished, the marginalized, the minority are too often silenced, which not only is a loss of identity and human significance but means the full lessons of history can never be learned.

Thus, the work of historical researchers, and museums which dare to reveal the inevitable complexities of history through stories, images, and artefacts, is so important to our understanding of the forces that shape our present – and our decisions in the future.

It is perhaps, then, no surprise that the Trump administration, in its radical restructuring of government and its assault on diversity, equality, and inclusion especially in art and educational establishments, is now attacking the premier institution of US history and culture, the Smithsonian.

According to The Guardian and many other media outlets, the administration is targeting exhibits that it feels “have overly negative portrayals of US history,” including, to quote President Trump, “how bad slavery was.”

Amidst potentially valid questions (if one didn’t question the motivation), such as exhibitions in one Asian art museum flagged “for claiming to impose western gender ideology on traditional cultures,” there are others like a Latino history exhibition put under review “for allegedly promoting an ‘anti-American agenda’ by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.”

The sense of sanitizing history to appease the powerful and political may be evident in the museum’s changes to exhibits referencing Trump’s impeachments in a Presidential exhibit – first removing them and then, perhaps in response to public outcry, giving them lower profile.

Despite this drive to reformulate history and hide facts, the reality is that the stories and narratives are already out there, particularly today in the digital ecosystem which – when people have access – tracks and records in real time. In fact, the Trump administration’s efforts are also now recorded history – by the media and concerned individuals

In the Hiroshima Museum, one brief story particularly gripped me. Just after the bomb was dropped, a photographer in Hiroshima took his camera to record the scene. For 20 minutes he could only cry at what he saw. But he also knew the importance of what he could document, so he lifted the camera and captured many of the shattering images we can still see today.

Powerful interests can try to erase history, but they cannot as long as stories continue to be told and captured. Each of us thus has a vital role to play in preserving memory and helping all of us better understand our present, and in being more fully informed when it comes to decisions about our future.

Photo: Kharaim Pavlo/Shutterstock