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Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15

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Opinion: Removing history again: Two wrongs don’t make a right

Staff File Photo / The 0.6-mile Browns Ferry Federal Road Trail in the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District was part of the route leading to the Tennessee River crossing during the forced removal of Cherokee and Creek Indians in what became known as the Trail of Tears in 1838.
Staff File Photo / The 0.6-mile Browns Ferry Federal Road Trail in the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District was part of the route leading to the Tennessee River crossing during the forced removal of Cherokee and Creek Indians in what became known as the Trail of Tears in 1838.

Many Americans are rightly upset that the National Park Service, as directed by the Trump administration, is removing materials related to slavery and Native Americans.

They’re removing history, some have said.

Now where have we heard that before?

In fact, it was less than 10 years ago when people — often supported by local or state governments — were destroying statues and monuments first of Confederate officers and then of slave-holding Founding Fathers and then of anyone who at the moment was the subject of someone’s pique.

They’re removing history, many of us said.