The President of the United States has ordered a review of exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, among others. He aims to dismantle Black history because it does not align with the “proper ideology.” In short, this means the Trump administration wants to erase or revise Black history, which undermines and erases the importance and events of the Black experience in America.
Black history is a fact. Slavery is often called “America’s original sin.” Africans were captured, enslaved, and mistreated through beatings, lynchings, and rape. Families were destroyed at the whim of the slave master. People were denied rights as human beings and had to fight for citizenship, which included the right to be educated, the right to vote, to own property, and even the right to marry. The slave had no rights as a human being, let alone a citizen. Black Americans have been the country’s victims.
The enslaved person was real, not fictional. It cannot be erased, not even by an American racist President. Slavery is a painful history that is still being realized. Trump’s executive order and criticism say he wants to “restore truth and sanity to American history.” He claims Black history suggests a “divisive ideology.” He says Black history is too “woke.” What does that mean? Is truth woke? Is reality woke? Is authentic woke? He wants to whitewash the nation’s past and declare war on cultural institutions. He plans to take down exhibits that “divide the nation on race.” Trump wants to destroy the history, the memory and the power of Blackness in America.
Maybe to counter the Trump plan, we should have another museum on America’s racism. Perhaps since the style of the day is to sue the media for speaking wrongly about a MAGA action, there should be a class action suit from Black America on the lies and mistruths that have been told.
For example, could we sue Elvis Presley’s estate for stealing Black music? Could Mick Jagger be sued for borrowing Muddy Waters‘ sound? Could Hattie McDaniel file a lawsuit against the Academy Awards for denying her a seat at the ceremony? Even after she received the award, could she still file a discrimination lawsuit? She was alone.
Could Black America file a lawsuit for racism, discrimination, and repression because it is too “racist” and does not adhere to America’s “correct ideology”? If Black America’s rights were denied, might they sue? Could Black America sue for suppression, racism, and theft of ideas? Could Black America sue the media for the stereotypical images they have perpetuated? Could Black America sue for lies told, or forgotten, or conveniently not remembered? Just wondering out loud.
So far, the removals from the National Museum of African American history have included Harriet Tubman’s book of hymns filled with gospels that she is believed to have sung as she led enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad, as well as a cloth made by enslaved people.
Additionally, the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” the memoir by a key leader in the abolition movement, was also removed.
If we follow Trump’s logic, the museum will probably be defunded or closed. Trump, as President of the United States, has assumed absolute power. He is the president of everything.
I would like to see Trump appear before Black media with selected scholars, namely Dr. Cornell West and Dr. Henry Gates, to present his case for erasing meaningful Black history. Incredibly, Trump’s reasoning threatens a museum and a history fought for with academia and cultural institutions.
Black America should be in an uproar with public outcry to stop the Trump administration from its attempts to distort and alter the reality of history.
Meanwhile, we should visit the museum in Washington as soon as possible.
