“Take it with a grain of salt” — we’ve all heard the phrase before. The conservatives take MSNBC with a tub of Morton while liberals take Fox News with a wheel barrel of it.

That is all fine and good. We should be suspicious of news networks and the history they shape.

But in the end, the most dangerous and easily overlooked history is what isn’t discussed or even remembered. I am talking about the untold and forgotten history and their impact upon the debates of today.

The subjects I am discussing are events such as race riots in America, and the history of Chinese Americans.

Unless we understand and internalize these untold histories, the current state of the world can neither be comprehended nor improved. More importantly, we could easily fall into the same patterns of behavior of past Americans that most consider deplorable today.

Take for example the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa race riots. The event is an untold piece of history, perhaps mentioned in a high school classroom in passing, but never really discovered by students unless they happened to stumble upon it.

Greenwood, a district in north Tulsa, was a bustling residential and commercial center known as “Black Wall Street” until the riot ripped through the area. The riot ruined most of the Greenwood’s success and led to a de facto segregation of Tulsa that still exists. Driving through Greenwood today, you cannot understand the singular demographic and poverty that characterizes a majority of the district unless the riot is taken into account.

Then there is the history of Chinese Americans. Along with playing a major role in constructing the western half of the transcontinental railroad, Chinese citizens and their Supreme Court cases that helped set precedents for enforcement of the 14th Amendment.

One case, United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, helped set the precedent that people born in the U.S. to non-citizens are to be granted citizenship.

These facts are not dated. They are relevant even today. There are politicians arguing against the right of citizenship to Hispanic children born in the U.S to parents of illegal immigrants, 112 years after the decision has already been made.

It’s important to realize that these frustrations are nothing new. The opinion at the time of Wong Kim Ark’s case could best be described as racist fear. People thought the Chinese were overrunning America in too large of numbers and were beating out Americans for jobs.

Sound familiar?

History isn’t repeating itself — racism against immigrants to America never ended.

It’s important to know the roots of problems and the histories of social debates. The segregation in Greenwood and the issue of Chinese citizenship cast a unique perspective on issues today.

Sometimes, even after 100 years, America still hasn’t taken a step forward.

The truth behind untold histories is more important than the biases of talking heads.