Society, Arts & Culture

Picture of sign

“They Want to Erase History:” Attacks on Public History and America's National Parks

  • by Keith David Watenpaugh

Yesterday I hiked on the Miwok trail from the shoulder of Mt. Tamalpais back to my boat in Sausalito. As I passed through Muir Woods National Monument, I witnessed an early casualty of the administration’s assault on public history.

A sign celebrating the role of wealthy Californians and civil society organizations in the preservation of this old growth redwood forest had been stripped of signage added by Park Service professionals (2021) that had provided visitors with important legal and social historical context.

baghdad 2003

Human Rights and the Legacies of 9/11 – Confronting the False Dichotomy of Human Rights or Security

  • by Keith David Watenpaugh

This week brings the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, when a militant Islamist organization, al-Qaeda, mounted a series of terrorist attacks on US soil, murdering thousands.  The American government’s response to those attacks over the last two decades, primarily its “War on Terror,” and the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, left deep scars on global human rights.

Genocide Die in UC Davis

April is Genocide Awareness Month: In the Face of Ongoing and Unacknowledged Genocides, What Does That Mean?

  • by Keith David Watenpaugh
April is Genocide Awareness Month:
In the Face of Ongoing and Unacknowledged Genocides, What Does this April Mean?

Listen to Dr. Watenpaugh talk about Genocide Awareness Month on CapRadio.

It’s a tough juxtaposition.

April in Northern California is our most beautiful month. The poppies are in bloom. The vineyards are turning green. Students spread blankets on the Quad and study and sleep under a warming Sun. We experience Aprils, especially this April, as a time of renewal and rebirth.

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