Trump can't whitewash the Smithsonian's Black History

Get the Point!

Since taking the oath of office in January, President Donald Trump has been on a mission to expand the culture wars by eliminating "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" initiatives within federal agencies—and by removing references to people of color on governmental websites.

Among the most notable slights have been within the Department of Defense, where tributes to Black military figures ranging from the famed Harlem Hell Fighters from World War I, the Tuskegee Airmen from World War II, and tributes to famous final resting places for civil rights legend Medgar Evers and General (later Secretary of State) Colin Powell in Arlington Cemetery were hidden temporarily (or permanently) from public view.

By so doing, Trump is merely continuing the decades' long cynical push by conservatives to suggest that white people are the victims of "reverse discrimination" in response to programs designed to ameliorate America's long and pronounced history of discriminating against Blacks, other people of color, and women.

In one sense, Trump's attacks provide red meat for the uneducated white members of his MAGA base by playing on their prejudices and fears of "others" to distract them from the fact that 60 plus days into his administration, inflation is still high, groceries, electricity, and medicines are less affordable, and his trade wars against industrial allies are only making economic matters worse across the board. To prove as I always say that “nothing's changed but the dates,” lest we forget the words of former President Lyndon Johnson, who famously said in 1965, “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

But as I often remind, we no longer live in the Dark Ages, a time in Western Civilization when books and libraries were restricted to the wealthy and ecclesiastical leaders in Europe and European colonial society! As Matt Damon reminded us as the title character in the classic film Good Will Hunting, knowledge is merely a library card and late fees (or Google search) away for anyone with any hint of intellectual curiosity!

Black history pictorial collage at the Smithsonian

Meaning, Trump's latest asinine executive order, this one seeking to intimidate the Smithsonian museums by removing what he calls "anti-American" thoughts that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race or promote ideologies inconsistent with federal law," serves to remind how sick and deeply entrenched white supremacy remains within the 47th president's pea brained mind—and in the minds and hearts of his staunchest supporters.

President Trump, circa 2017, touring the very Smithsonian African American History and Culture Museum that he now seeks to usurp…

To folks of this ilk, America is “rightfully” white, Christian, and “God ordained” to be dominated by wealthy white men who deserve subservience and loyalty from racial and religious minorities (and women) who, in their twisted versions of history and current events, have contributed little to nothing to this nation.

But as I wrote on my Facebook page last night, no matter how hard they try to obfuscate the truth, Trump and his pitifully uneducated followers will NEVER be able to erase the realities that the powerful American industrial economy was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of enslaved Blacks (King Cotton)—on land that was forcibly taken, bartered (Louisiana Purchase), or tricked away from Indigenous people and Mexicans! Indeed, those are America's original sins and they will echo throughout all eternity—no matter how many museums (Smithsonian) they underfund or close—and no matter how many textbooks and educational "standards" the MAGA minions draft to "whitewash" real truth with their historical fictions!

The last time I was in Washington back in ‘23, I was unable to get into the Smithsonian’s Black History museum, but I had a ball observing the exhibits at its sister Museum of Natural History…

Cognizant that the Smithsonian institutions are a private-public partnership, I have no doubts that the museums, including the very popular African American History and Culture museum, will remain open to the viewing public for many years to come!

I'm also sure that most of the MAGAs who seek to see the doors of these edifices shuttered have never spent even five minutes walking around and learning within these hallowed halls! Which, ostensibly, remains the most maddening point of all; wisdom is so easily attainable these days, but the great unwashed would rather remain reeking with ignorance than to figure out that from the very first days of this place we call America, the wealthy have been screwing over the middle and poorer classes and laughing all the way to the bank—while the majority struggle to figure out how to make ends meet. If ever the masses can figure this part out, a more egalitarian change will come…