When reading textbooks about American History, it isn’t hard to believe that we’re “The Greatest Nation.” It is only when delving further into our past that we find events that make even the most patriotic among us cringe.

There are those that are notorious – things like the Japanese Internment camps that dotted the southwest during World War II and the prisoners who have been held without trial at Guantanamo Bay, African-American slavery or the Tuskegee experiments that purposefully infected African American men with Syphilis, The Trail of Tears and Wounded Knee, or the brutal killings of Vietnam’s My Lai massacre.

But it is the atrocities that are little known that do the most damage; those to which we turn a blind eye and say, “it’s not possible in my country” that are most harmful to our society.

There are more examples than could possibly be listed in a short article and, quite disturbingly, more are brought to light all the time. Lynchings, mass murders, abuse and even genocide are common themes among the darker side of American history.

It seems that these lesser known atrocities are generally referred to as “stories.” For example, there are “stories” of World War II soldiers taking aim at locals for target practice. There are “stories” about widespread abuse in early industrialized factories. There are “stories” of massacres committed both by and against Native Americans.

And, recently, we have seen additional information on atrocities through books like The Slaughter: And American Atrocity by Carroll Case and Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon. Case’s book – a fictionalized work – is based upon historical information gathered by the NAACP about the murders of African Americans on Military Bases. In Blackmon’s book, he delves into the “stories” he had heard about slave labor being used in local mines.

And, yet, America is the “Greatest Nation.”

Why? With all of these horrible acts in our past, how can we call ourselves the greatest? For one reason alone: we have the power to recognize the events of our past, and learn to spot – and stop – them before they happen again. It is within our power as American citizens to learn about our true past – even when it contains events that we are not particularly proud of – and make sure that our future generations are able to see the signs as well. It is also within our power as American citizens to get involved in our political processes and make sure that these horrible acts never happen again.

So as long as there are people willing to stand up for what is right, just and fair, and work to stop that which is not – even when it is not the easy thing to do – America will continue to be the great nation our forefathers envisioned.