“This Is Not Who We Are” Is America’s Biggest Lie | Danielle Moodie

Wajahat Ali
VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5reIrs6rb0&t=1791s
Wajahat Ali
VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5reIrs6rb0&t=1791s
September 28, 2026
Wajahat Ali
America has a phrase it reaches for whenever the country confronts something ugly: “This is not who we are.” But what if that phrase prevents us from honestly confronting American history? Danielle Moodie joins Wajahat Ali to examine the contradictions between America’s ideals and its history — and why the instinct to separate the country’s present from its past can make it harder to understand what is happening today. Moodie has argued that declaring “this is not who we are” can amount to historical amnesia, overlooking longstanding forces including exclusion, inequality, capitalism and the exercise of political power.
The conversation asks a bigger question: If America wants to become something different, does it first have to acknowledge what it has actually been?
#DanielleMoodie #America #AmericanHistory #Politics #Democracy #WajahatAli #Trump #politicalculture
Wajahat Ali
America has a phrase it reaches for whenever the country confronts something ugly: “This is not who we are.” But what if that phrase prevents us from honestly confronting American history? Danielle Moodie joins Wajahat Ali to examine the contradictions between America’s ideals and its history — and why the instinct to separate the country’s present from its past can make it harder to understand what is happening today. Moodie has argued that declaring “this is not who we are” can amount to historical amnesia, overlooking longstanding forces including exclusion, inequality, capitalism and the exercise of political power.
The conversation asks a bigger question: If America wants to become something different, does it first have to acknowledge what it has actually been?
#DanielleMoodie #America #AmericanHistory #Politics #Democracy #WajahatAli #Trump #politicalculture