Commentary Our nation’s past year of reckoning, unrest, and lockdowns presented an unexpected societal pause to contemplate who we are and where we’re going. Consequently, the national discourse slipped into a backward-oriented conception of our nation’s position in the scheme of human history. As Americans reexamined their past, they scrutinized the rosy elementary school lessons about our national heritage. In theory, this retrospective lens fosters a more realistic outlook on the past and challenges the history-written-by-victors narrative to yield a better course of action for the future. This mode of analysis also allows for the parsing out of present disparities and their roots in our past—and rightfully so. History, indeed, shapes our experience of the present, both visible and invisible. But this sudden orientation toward the past has its drawbacks, too. The pendulum has swung from historical idealization to historical demonization, and with it the national dialogue has shifted dramatically. …