For example, our schools teach American history as the history of everyone in this nation. But the stories we learn are predominantly about white men. To study the history of other groups, people have to take separate classes, such as African-American history, women's history or Native American history. This societal and cultural programming makes it easy for conservative, white-male-led groups to convince the nation that an organization led by white men, such as the National Rifle Association or the tea-party movement, can represent the interests of the entire nation when, in fact, they predominately represent only their own experiences and perspectives.