the people responsible for record keeping decided to do it this way, so we follow their lead.

First of all, they're not the ones perpetuating it. The same media that's been successfully whitewashing the West's favorite fascist apartheid state until recent years are.

Secondly, that's not a good reason. People in charge of things get things and the framing of things wrong all the time.

Harry Truman felt the same way

Say what you will about his authorizing of at least two of the worst single day war crimes in human history, but when he's right, he's right 😉