The Authors of America’s Story

The views expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights or Harvard Kennedy School. These perspectives have been presented to encourage debate on important public policy challenges. 

In late June, I boarded an Amtrak train in DC en route to Boston. 

As soon as the train arrived in New York City, an enthusiastic horde of Dutch fans quickly claimed the remaining seats, ready to cheer on the Dutch National Football Team, nicknamed the Oranje, in the next round of the FIFA World Cup. 

A friendly Dutch fan sat next to me, and we struck up a conversation about his time in New York, and he asked for recommendations on must-see attractions in Boston. 

Immediately, I thought of Boston’s rich art and culture scene and offered a few suggestions. The spontaneity of the conversation was a reminder to me that the United States’ cultural diversity is central to our own national heritage.

As the U.S. marked its semiquincentennial on July 4th and co-hosted the World Cup, the most striking takeaway may be what this event-filled summer revealed about American culture and identity.

In an era shaped by political division and culture war politics, many Americans are left wondering whether they still have a voice in defining what it means to be American or whether space remains to meaningfully celebrate cultural diversity.

But, America’s storytellers — the artists, historians, curators, advocates, and activists who do this work for a living — reminded the rest of us that we are not only the authors of America’s story, but we collectively define the American experience.

The camaraderie between visiting World Cup fans and Americans is case and point. Americans throughout each of the sixteen host cities not only opened their businesses, homes, and communities to the visiting fans, they relished moments to showcase America’s cultural diversity and celebrate alongside them. The videos of World Cup fans experiencing America’s cities were captivating and a breath of fresh air. 

And, the videos exuded joy: Japanese fans cleaning up the stadium in Houston; Dutch Oranje fans performing their “left, right” jumping dance in Dallas; Norwegian fans doing the “Viking row” in unison in New York’s Times Square; South African fans marching through downtown Atlanta; and Scotland’s “Tartan Army” whimsically plopping traffic cones on statues and drinking Boston’s bars dry. 

America’s storytellers — the artists, historians, curators, advocates, and activists who do this work for a living — reminded the rest of us that we are not only the authors of America’s story, but we collectively define the American experience.

Every four years, the host country of the World Cup receives a ton of international scrutiny – from sports enthusiasts all the way to human rights defenders. This year was no different for the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as the three countries served as co-hosts. 

America’s reputation, tarnished by the unpredictability and cultural insularity of the second Trump administration, was on the line, and Americans did their best to show the world that large swaths of the country embrace cultural diversity, even when our government doesn’t. 

The previous host of the World Cup - Qatar - was also scrutinized. In the years leading up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar’s international reputation was the talk of the entire sports world. It would be the first-ever World Cup in the Arabian Peninsula, hosted by a country that expressly criminalizes LGBTQI+ individuals, restricts women’s rights, and mistreats migrants. 

But, Qatar’s government pushed back, signaling that LGBTQI+ visitors and displays, in particular, would be welcome. In 2019, the Government of Qatar even invited a same-sex couple from an LGBTQI+ affiliate club of Liverpool FC, nicknamed the “Kop Outs,” to the country to demonstrate its commitment to welcoming fans across the globe. 

These gestures invited criticism from human rights defenders who reminded FIFA of its commitment to make a serious effort at holding host governments accountable for both visitors and residents alike. Despite these criticisms, no meaningful progress was made. 

Human rights defenders hoped the international spotlight would bring change, but that moment came and went.

Many Americans are left to wonder if political and cultural change will elude us as well as the glare of the international spotlight fades. 

Fans and players from around the world delighted in the massiveness of our National Football League stadiums, the diversity of our food (and portion sizes), and the hospitality of America’s melting pot. For many fans, their experiences were shaped by America’s multicultural society. 

For us, the contrast could not be starker: Beneath the revelry of the World Cup, the country we love is being led by an administration that weaponizes cultural war politics to erode democratic norms and bully entire communities of Americans for failing to conform to its narrow view of what it means to be an American. 

The Trump-Vance administration’s anti-DEI, anti-gender agenda has produced a plethora of cruel actions – from the undermining of basic civil liberties to the recasting of diversity initiatives and certain stories throughout history as divisive, woke, and dispensable. When we should be celebrating what makes America great – its vast diversity – many Americans feel beaten down by incessant culture war politics from Washington. Not to mention, their agenda comes at the expense of a growing number of economic challenges facing the country. 

But, what is the accurate view of our society, 250 years after its founding? The story of every movement in America is a struggle to be fully seen and included in American life. From the fight to officially recognize Tribal Nations and the African American-led movement for civil rights to the women’s suffrage movement in the 20th century and the struggle for equality for LGBTQI+ Americans in the 21st, we see ourselves as a people journeying toward greater progress. 

Or, at least, we did. 

When we should be celebrating what makes America great – its vast diversity – many Americans feel beaten down by incessant culture war politics from Washington.

Worn down by culture war politics at home and a never-ending cascade of news stories about the U.S.’s involvement in war and violence abroad, American pride is at a twenty-five-year low, according to a new poll by Gallup, and many are pessimistic about the country’s future. 

Americans have been shocked by the federal government’s commitment to erase people and entire subjects from American history, but also by their brazen attempts to turn back the clock to a bygone era that never existed. 

The commonly-accepted story that “America is a nation of immigrants” now contrasts with Trump’s own national security strategy, which argues for limiting the entry of foreign nationals who threaten to "destabilize the culture”. 

This is the subtext to every immigration action by the Trump-Vance administration: To influence culture by defining it as exclusive to only those from European heritage. 

Shortly after assuming office in January 2025, President Trump directed then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to launch an unprecedented series of inhumane raids on any American who appeared to be undocumented, leading to hundreds of Americans being deported in error and the killing of two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Peretti, who dared to say something. Almost a year after the raids began, Germany and the United Kingdom discouraged travel to the United States for the World Cup; Ecuador went further and condemned the raids. 

World Cup visitors still came, and they saw a different America – the America we experience every day. At this moment, Americans are beginning to understand how human rights violations can be both contemporary and historic, very far away and also in one’s own backyard. 

Which brings me back to the recommendations I made to the friendly Dutch fan on Amtrak. 

Boston-area artists, advocates, and historians, many directly confronting the erosion of free expression and culture war politics, are proudly telling stories from our past and showing how a more expansive view of culture can help bring the country together.

The focus on redefining American culture by the Trump-Vance administration has divided Americans, yet it is intentional. Their hope is that President Trump’s lasting legacy is the erasure of stories and voices they consider to be undeserving of popular support or a place within America’s collective memory.

The Administration’s CONTROL-ALT-DELETE reflex of anything and everything “diverse and inclusive” has been comprehensive. In 2025, the State Department slashed two-thirds of content from its annual, and once widely respected, country reports on human rights, including violations against children, LGBTQI+ people, women, and people with disabilities. And, the Department of Interior has intentionally targeted historical displays, like civil rights signage at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, slavery displays at the President’s House in Philadelphia, and pride flags at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. 

The Administration repurposed the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to fit its narrow view of culture and history and canceled millions in grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which impacted several Boston-area institutions. 

When NEH began cancelling hundreds of grants – funds originally approved by the Biden-Harris administration – Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) had a choice. Wait for the $400,000 of NEH funds to be yanked or reject the money altogether. The storied museum chose the latter, fearful that accepting any federal dollars meant being forced to rewrite exhibits to fit the Administration’s narrow view of American history. 

MFA’s curators acknowledged what we all know instinctively that culture and history can never be defined by a single person or source. So, they carried on. Included in the expansive “Arts in the America: 1700 to 1800” gallery, MFA curators unveiled a “Power and Resistance” exhibit, which places artwork by Native American artists next to British-inspired artists and Paul Revere’s “Sons of Liberty” Bowl next to a ceramic jar inscribed by enslaved poet and potter, David Drake. When asked by Hyperallergic about rejecting funds from the NEH, Lucía Abramovich Sánchez, the curator of MFA’s American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, said: “I’m very proud of us for not taking that grant.”

In April of 2025, the Trump-Vance administration informed the Museum of African-American History of Boston that it was pulling a three-year, $500,000 grant from the museum, telling curators that their work “no longer aligns with White House policy.” The museum’s exhibits hold meaning to both New England and the nation, as the home to the 1806 African Meeting House and the first public school built for Black students in 1835. 

Shortly after the Administration’s notification, Dr. Noelle Trent, the Museum’s president and CEO told CBS News, "If you care about this place, we need you. We need you to join us in this fight". One year later, the Museum welcomed a $100,000 gift from Rob Waldron, former CEO of Curriculum Associates, and hosted its first-ever Juneteenth Block Party. 

On the national stage, the Administration was forced to retreat from its decision to remove Pride flags at New York City’s Stonewall National Monument after protests, and Lonnie Bunch, the first Black chief of the Smithsonian, has adeptly led the popular DC institution through this moment. Bunch recently told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “It scares me when people aren’t brave enough to face their history.”

Americans do not have to accept the erasure of America’s cultural diversity and can collectively author a story that includes the sacrifice and bravery of all of our ancestors.

Are we brave enough to face our history? It shouldn’t be this hard to say yes. It is the only way a divided America can put an end to culture war politics and create space to celebrate America’s rich, multicultural heritage.  

The events surrounding America’s semiquincentennial and the revelry of the World Cup may have been revealing, but this moment was always going to be fleeting. The moment of truth will reveal itself in the coming years. Americans do not have to accept the erasure of America’s cultural diversity and can collectively author a story that includes the sacrifice and bravery of all of our ancestors.

If this moment seemingly lacks heroes, find your local storytellers and follow them. They are likely the ones speaking passionately about defending human rights, building community, and bringing the stories of hidden figures to the forefront.

They are the ones carrying the torch.