I think it goes to the core of why public schools no longer focus on American History.
If they did, the students would learn which political party was heavily invested in maintaining slavery. They’d know which party nominated a candidate in the 1864 election against Lincoln, on a ‘peace platform’ that allowed for slavery to continue in the South, and would negotiate a settlement to the war that would allow the Confederacy to break away from the Union.
They’d know which party blocked Civil Rights legislation. They’d know which party voted for a Senate Majority Leader in the 1960’s that used to not only wear a hood and sheet while dancing around a burning cross, but was also one of its most renowned recruiters for the KKK.
They’d learn who authorized domestic spying on Martin Luther King.
They can run, but they can’t hide forever!