Critics see Trump attacks on the 'Black Smithsonian' as an effort to sanitize racism in US history

Trump orders purge of Black History from Smithsonian, targets African American Museum

The executive order is chillingly titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” It declares that the Smithsonian, once a symbol of “American excellence,” has become tainted by narratives that portray “American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”

Trump's Black History Museum Remarks Fuel Racial Debate

Clarence Page: Trump, Vance raise puzzling question at the Smithsonian: What’s ‘improper ideology?’

President Trump has signed an executive order that directs Vice President JD Vance to eliminate “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers, and the National Zoo. My immediate reaction? Surely, you jest, sir. There may not be any area of American discourse that is more divisive or conflict-ridden than the arena of race. As I have witnessed many times in the past, race as a topic of con…

Race isn't a 'biological reality,' contrary to recent political claims

In the recent flurry of executive orders from President Donald Trump, one warned of "a distorted narrative" about race "driven by ideology rather than truth." It singled out a current exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum titled "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture" as an example. The exhibit displays over two centuries of sculptures that show how art has produced and reproduced racial attitudes and ideologies.

The Smithsonian Is Not a ‘Distorter.’ It’s a Mirror.

The institution forces America to look at its full history. We’re supposed to learn from what we see — not pretend it doesn’t exist.

Now the truth is coming to American museums, according to Donald Trump, who has signed a presidential order that is sending shockwaves through cultural institutions.