Truth
Memorial Day 2025
This Memorial Day is especially meaningful as I reflect on the many people in my family — in our country — through many generations, who have given years of their lives to protect democracy and freedom for us. How can their contributions be minimized or even erased from history?
I am deeply disturbed and alarmed that Code-Talkers were removed from the military website, as were other marginalized groups, including women. Removal is a silent form of cultural and personal genocide. How do we learn the truth? We read critically, choosing from many sources available in public libraries and then … we reflect, discuss, listen, and decide. We make our own decisions about what is true. Without libraries, without free access to all books, we are kept from the truth. It took researchers, artists, authors, and musicians, to show the truth about the Japanese internment camps … the truth about Native American massacres … the truth about stolen lands, stolen water, stolen children. Recently I was asked to write about “why I write for children.” While thinking about this question, I realized that an important reason why I write books is so children can read what I believe, think about it, and decide for themselves what is true.
Memorial Day, a remembrance and a reflection of the cost of “liberty and justice for all.”
At the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, the exhibit “InSight: Photos and Stories from the Archives” opens on Friday, May 23, 2025.
On Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, from 10 am to 5:30 pm a free ceremony honors indigenous service members who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Hear from Native veterans, make prayer ties to remember loved ones, and pay your respects during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Native American Veterans Memorial. Information tables and exhibition from 10 am to 5:30 pm in the Potomac Atrium. The wreath-laying ceremony takes place at 4:00 pm. You can watch live at https://americanindian.si.edu/livestream or https://americanindian.si.edu/, look for “Service and Sacrifice.”