WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden marked Black History Month at a White House event Monday, saying "history matters." 

"It's important to say from the White House, for the entire country to hear: history matters. History matters, and Black History matters," Biden told a reception in the East Room of the White House.

"I can’t just choose to learn what we want to know. We learn what we should know. We have to learn everything, the good, the bad, the truth, and who we are as a nation," he said.

"That’s what great nations do.”

Also speaking at the event, Vice President Kamala Harris said that Black history is "American history, living history, breathing history, history that we create every day."

"Let us all be clear: We will not, as a nation, build a better future for America by trying to erase America’s past," said Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the office.