“Nothing Can Be Changed Until It’s Faced”: Turning to History to Build Nonracist Future

Silencing, denying, or forgetting historical truths signifies an incomplete or even false identity for individuals and the nation state. An historical amnesia and ontology of forgetting has been the approach settler-colonial countries taken to confronting their histories of racism and racial oppression. This chapter will build a case for turning to history as a way of moving individuals and nations toward racial equity and justice. It will focus on the USA and Australia to demonstrate how these two countries engage in their settler-colonial histories and how the national narrative translates to educational and public spheres. Finally, the chapter will help identify how teaching history of racial oppression can contribute to creating more socially and critically conscious and antiracist citizens, which in turn will contribute to breaking the cycle of the racial oppression in settler-colonial countries.