I think most whitewashing of history comes out of the urge to avoid uncomfortable topics, rather than any malice. The topic of genocide, for example, opens a hu

I think most whitewashing of history comes out of the urge to avoid uncomfortable topics, rather than any malice. The topic of genocide, for example, opens a huge can of worms. It's much easier to keep that can of worms out of sight. Plus, in the interest of storytelling, you often don't want to open up "threads" in a story that don't support the main plot. I've noticed this is especially true for children's books. They have to have a happy ending. (I mean, who wants to read a kids book that leaves the kid depressed about history?) Of course, because of this, many kids grow up thinking that "problems" like racism are things that were solved in the past. And that's because those problems were solved in the books that have been read to them, or that they've read. (This is based on my experience reading many hundreds of books to my kids.) Anyways, that's a bit of a tangent.