On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order that was titled, with Orwellian phrasing, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order specifies that, among other things, funding for the Smithsonian’s 21 museums (and the National Zoo!) will be denied for any exhibits or programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law.” It further directs the Vice President to take actions to “remove improper ideologies from such properties”. This will include the National Museum for African American History and Culture.
This is a movie we’ve seen before. After different periods of racial progress in our nation, there have been spasms of white supremacist backlash that seek to squelch any factual examination of our country’s racial history, expunge any traces of our centuries-long legally sanctioned racial oppression, and instead replace it with a fanciful narrative of unblemished progress for freedom and equality that absurdly identifies white people as the true victims of racial oppression.
For this white-washing of American history to succeed, the rest of us just have to go along. And so the administration seeks to intimidate those who have something to lose. As a result, political leaders who fear for their re-election remain silent. Law firms with government access and contracts at stake eschew legal work that might cross the administration. Media companies choose to settle frivolous law suits that should be beaten back. Colleges and universities, including my alma mater, the University of Michigan, agree to terminate their DEI programs.
We have an amazing country, with a history that is both inspiring but also complicit in injustices on a broad scale. We can never truly aspire to greatness unless we have the courage, the maturity, the resolve, and the humility to confront the actual truth of our national story.
By Rev. Pat Jackson
Executive Director
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