Source: The Washington Post / Getty
The Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture opened to great fanfare in 2016. Then-president Barack Obama, civil rights activist and Rep. John Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, Patti Labelle, Stevie Wonder and Will Smith were in attendance at the star-studded event. Winfrey donated $21M to the museum. Designed by Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye and the late Philip Freelon of the Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup, it was considered a tremendous accomplishment in advancing the history of African Americans.
Now the Trump administration is targeting the museum, among others, that he says are not providing a well-rounded picture of America and its history. He signed an executive order on Thursday that appoints Vice President JD Vance to oversee the Smithsonian’s 17 D.C.-based museums and the two in New York City.
The order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” says in part, “Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61NQ_qRmA04
Vance and Vince Haley, the assistant to the president for domestic policy, and Lindsey Halligan, the special assistant to the president and senior associate staff secretary, will be tasked with ensuring, along with Congress, that no money is appropriated to the museums that would “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
Vance is already on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents.
The Smithsonian’s museums include the National Museum of the American Indian, the African American Museum, the Museum of African Art, the National Museum of African Art, and the National Museum of American History. While no further details were provided, the order did include references to NMAAHC and the Women’s History Museum which hasn’t opened yet.
“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” Trump’s order said. And he said no man would be honored by the women’s history museum, seemingly referencing anyone who is transgender and identifies as female, regardless of their gender assigned at birth.
Trump blamed his predecessors for what he says was a systematic reworking of history, no matter how documented and established.
“Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”
In addition, the order says that the Interior Secretary must return monuments, statues and artifacts that have been removed from the museums that “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.”
When contacted by AP, Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said the organization had “no comment at this time. “
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