Trump administration’s anti-woke campaign targets Smithsonian museums | Trump administration
In the middle of the heavy journal of the Donald Trump administration of the Smithsonian museums, the Guardian saw a document compiled by the White House which details examples of the way in which cultural institutions widely visited have too negative representations of American history.
The document, based on public bids shared with the administration, underlines what it says to be problematic exhibitions in seven different museums, including an exhibition by Benjamin Franklin which links its scientific achievements to its property of enslaved people and a film on the murder of George Floyd who, according to the police.
“President Trump will explore all the options and avenues to get the awakening of the Smithsonian and keep them responsible,” said a White House official. “Until we obtain information from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we cannot check the number of artifacts that have been deleted because the Smithsonian deleted them by themselves.”
Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social earlier this week, writing: “The Smithsonian is out of control, where everything is discussed is horrible from our country, how bad the slavery and how badly complicated the oppressed.”
The seven museums that have so far been reported include the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of American Latino, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of African Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Asian Art Museum.
Administration maintains that exhibitions in these museums are excessively focusing on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document reported the presentation ¡! Exhibition of Latin history for the allegedly promotion of an “anti-American program” by examining the effects of colonization and depicting the United States as a territory of theft in Mexico in 1848.
Examples of the document are also shame at the Museum Benjamin Franklin exhibition for having linked his scientific achievements to his property of slaves and a star banner to focus on American historical failures and controversies rather than to celebrate national achievements.
The National Portrait Gallery is being reflected in order to focus on how the Chinese exclusion law and other racist immigration laws have contradicted the welcoming message of the statue of freedom. The African Museum of Art is targeted on the film by George Floyd. And the Asian Museum of Art is reported for exhibitions to claim to impose Western gender ideology on traditional cultures.
Last week, the director of the White House budget, Russ Vought, sent letters to eight museums requesting information on the exhibitions within 30 days and by asking managers to implement “content corrections”, in particular the replacement of the “divider” language.
The examination follows a similar administration pressure on universities, which led the institutions to pay hundreds of millions to the government and to bring back diversity initiatives.
In addition, the Smithsonian has already made changes to the exhibitions referring to Trump, removing any mention of his dismissal from an exhibition of presidential power to the American History Museum in July, leaving only generic references to three presidents confronted with the potential retirement of his functions.
The Smithsonian institution did not immediately respond to requests for comments, but the Guardian obtained a declaration sent by Lonnie Bunch, the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to colleagues.
“The Smithsonian continues to appear in several reports and publications on social networks, I have received questions and comments from many of you. The Smithsonian will always be shaped by scholarships and guided by our fundamental values. Although our collections can evolve to reflect new discoveries and ideas, the intellectual honesty and the integrity of our research and our colleagues do not change our 179 years, we have listened and learned and learned from our colleagues citizens. High quality, factual content and world class science.
Although we cannot know what future criticism will hold, I know that I have the greatest confidence in your ability to persevere and effectively represent an institution whose objective is simply to help a nation to better understand its past, to produce and transmit the most precise science and stock market, and to serve the greatest good. »»
David Smith contributed to the report
