WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack on American cultural institutions, criticising museums for their woke focus on subjects including how bad slavery was.
He specifically targeted the Smithsonian Institution in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
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, Trump wrote.
He accused the museums of discussing nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.
The Smithsonian operates 17 museums, galleries and a zoo across the country and receives public funding.
Trump has previously accused the institution of espousing a corrosive ideology. The transatlantic slave trade from Africa to the Americas spanned three centuries and is often referred to as the United States’ original sin.
The country’s South fought to maintain slavery in the 1861-1865 Civil War but ultimately lost. African Americans have continued to fight for civil rights, most recently during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Trump described museums throughout Washington and all over the Country as the last remaining segment of WOKE. He has disparaged cultural institutions for months as they have worked to bring more diversity to exhibits.
These efforts have included highlighting women, people of color and queer culture.
Last week, the White House posted a letter announcing plans to target eight major museums for comprehensive internal review. The administration aims to celebrate American exceptionalism and remove divisive or partisan narratives.
Targeted institutions include the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The National Museum of the American Indian is also on the list. Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump responded to Trump’s post on social media platform X.
Now museums are being targeted because they speak too openly about the horrors of slavery, Crump wrote.
If telling the truth about slavery makes a museum too woke, then the problem isn’t the history, it’s the people who want to erase it, he continued.
Trump visited the National Museum of African American History during his first term in 2017.
The museum had opened the previous year and depicts the slave trade among other historic subjects. US media reports from the time quoted Trump calling the museum a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes.
He reportedly said it’s amazing to see after completing his tour. The museum continues to present a comprehensive history of African American life and struggle. - AFP
