As if he is trying to demonstrate that “smart people don’t know everything,” and even the C and D Students can be president, too, Mr. Trump has been making a mockery of American History he doesn’t like. As POTUS, he seems to believe if you don’t mention the bad things that happened, then they did not happen, and if you don’t like the history you’ve heard, simply rewrite or ignore it.
So, he has a standing directive to the National Park Service branch of the Interior Department—re-write any mentions of slavery and African American heroism in the American History exhibits in America’s 400-plus public parks run by the Interior Department.
For example, there is a persistent and current controversy over the George Washington Memorial in Philadelphia. The Trump administration ordered the National Park Service (NPS) to rip out any mention of George Washington having owned slaves before and during his presidency from the historical memorial. The city of Philadelphia, which houses that particular Washington memorial, has sued the Trump administration over the issue, and there has been a continuing public protest over it.
Trump’s position seems to be, if you want people to feel good about your history, then just lie about any bad stuff in it. Ignore it or rewrite it, so it didn’t happen. If you lost the race, just lie and proclaim that you actually won it.
Thus, at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the Trump administration recently ordered the removal of an exhibit which showed the contradiction between President George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people and the Declaration of Independence’s promise of liberty.
Across the country, National Park Service workers have been ordered to take down, rewrite or rework the content of any plaques, films and other materials that may “disparage Americans” or promote “corrosive ideology.”
This Trumpian war on history also has his functionaries trying to hide, destroy or deny public access to major African American historical material that shows what positive benefit Black folk have brought to this country’s development, and the removal of significant African American names from important contributions to the positive development of this country. That aligns with Mr. Trump’s continuing disparagement of MLK Day and Black History Month.
As explained by some authorities, The POTUS seems to want to present what he considers to be a more positive view of American history to millions of people who visit the more than 400 national parks and historic sites in America every year.
But most critics call that reasoning nonsense, and that what it really is, is historical whitewashing, otherwise known as a blatant attempt “to erase difficult periods in the nation’s past while simultaneously debasing contributions made by people of color, gay and transgender figures, women and other marginalized groups.” But it is a simple truth that there’s no happy face one can put on slavery. It happened, it was brutal, and it was a distinctive part of what makes American history.
Trying to put a happy, white face on American history will not change what happened. Neither will trying to put Trump’s face and name on American monuments and institutions make him a hero — Mr. Trump has suggested and tried to put into action the placing of his face on Mount Rushmore with the other four presidential faces already there, he has already forced his name on the Kennedy Center, and is trying to get the grand Kennedy International Airport in New York renamed the Trump International Airport.
The inferiority complex goes very, very deep. But lying about American history won’t make things better, and clearly that history is much more than a white fairy tale.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.