National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Some headlines are just too stupid to pass by. Yes, this is the Trump era, and Trump being Trump and all that. But even so, there should be some things a president doesn't say — or do. This is one.
"Trump Says Smithsonian Focuses Too Much on 'How Bad Slavery Was,'" The New York Times screamed. Yes, he really said that.
In a post on social media on Tuesday, Trump wrote:
"The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the 'HOTTEST' Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums."
Too much on how bad slavery was? Was it better than we think? Did it not cause a civil war? Are museums supposed to show us what we need to know about our history or what Donald Trump and his white nationalist friends would like to hear?
The social media post comes a week after the Trump administration warned the Smithsonian that its museums must, within 120 days, adjust any content that the administration finds problematic in "tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals." In his social media post, Trump said that he had instructed his lawyers "to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities."
Could it be any worse? Do to the Smithsonian what he has done, and is doing, to America's leading educational institutions? Strip them of their independence, of their academic freedom and integrity, in the name of fighting antisemitism. As the Jewish faculty of UCLA has rightly stood up and said, "No, thanks." And double, "No, thanks" to whitewashing our history. What message does that send to a Black schoolchild who visits the museum?
"It's the epitome of dumbness to criticize the Smithsonian for dealing with the reality of slavery in America," Douglas Brinkley, one of America's most respected presidential historians, told The New York Times. "It's what led to our Civil War and is a defining aspect of our national history. And the Smithsonian deals in a robust way with what slavery was, but it also deals with human rights and civil rights in equal abundance."
The "epitome of dumbness." Trump has been there before. The effort to whitewash our history extends to other stupid things this administration and this president have done, from minimizing the contributions of Black heroes, including the Tuskegee Airmen who fought in World War II and Harriet Tubman, who led Blacks to freedom on the Underground Railroad, to advocating the return of Confederate insignia and statues honoring those who fought to preserve slavery. On Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of slavery in the United States that became a federal holiday in 2021, Trump "celebrated" by complaining that there were too many non-working holidays in America.
From the halls of the Smithsonian to the streets of Los Angeles, Donald Trump's war on diversity, equity and inclusion has morphed into a war on Black and Brown people. He makes no bones about it. He is playing to the white nationalist fringe of his MAGA movement, and it is not just dumb but ugly. And racist. The Smithsonian needs to resist, and to fight back, and it needs Congress' support, and the public's, to do so.
Susan Estrich is a celebrated feminist legal scholar, the first female president of the Harvard Law Review, and the first woman to run a U.S. presidential campaign. She has written eight books.
Reprinted with permission from Creators.
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