Administration To White Wash History… And Zoos

Most sane people had signed off the news for the night when President Felonious Punk signed yet another Executive Order. This was intentional because he is hoping that there are enough other things going on in this news cycle to distract from how critical and dangerous this one is. While the order is not necessarily illegal, it does push the US toward a more apartheid-like form of fascist tyranny.

Even the title, ‘Restoring Truth In American History’ is complete bullshit. What this EO does is blatantly whitewash history, removing any hint of genocide against native peoples, positioning the slave trade as a ‘good’ economic move, and minimizing the contributions of all people of color. At the same time, it brings back Jim Crow-era thinking about white supremacy. This is a truckload of trouble.

We were able to snag a copy of the order before it went to the registrar. Here are some of the more offensive pieces:

The Order directs the Vice President, who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to work to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

Hold up, stop right there. Is there anywhere in the country more American than the Smithsonian? From beginning to end, in every corridor, the Smithsonian has always celebrated the best of America. So, what do they want? Hold on, it’s coming.

The Order directs the Administration to work with Congress to ensure that future Smithsonian appropriations: (1) prohibit funding for exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race, or promote ideologies inconsistent with Federal law; and (2) celebrate women’s achievements in the American Women’s History Museum and do not recognize men as women.

There’s a lot there to unpack, but that last line, ‘do not recognize men as women,’ has us scratching our heads. Is this saying all men are trans (biologically, that’s a reasonable argument)?

The Order also directs the Secretary of the Interior to restore Federal parks, monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties that have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history or improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events.

Remember all those corrections that were made after the summer of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020? This would erase all of those efforts and anything else that has changed the name of a military base or erected historical markers mentioning the contributions of anyone who is not a white male.

The entire order is couched in terms of preparing for the US 250th birthday next summer. It calls for all historical areas to be cleaned up, information ‘corrected,’ and repairs to be made. The claim is made that with this order, President Punk is “ensuring that American history is celebrated accurately, fairly, and with pride—honoring the remarkable progress, liberty, and ingenuity that define our great nation.”

Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian Institution’s chief spokesperson, said in an email late Thursday, “We have no comment for now.”

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. It consists of 21 museums and the National Zoo. Eleven museums are located along the National Mall in Washington. The institution was established with money from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

Exactly how any part of this order applies to the National Zoo is not directly mentioned.

What we do know is that this order continues the President’s war against anything that strikes him as being part of a DEI initiative. There is no real desire to represent ‘truth’ and ‘accuracy’ in how history is portrayed, but rather a continued erasure of the efforts of indigenous Americans and people of color. If anything celebrates something other than the advancements of white men, the President wants it gone.

An accurate history is too important to allow this kind of whitewashing. Lawsuits are likely to be filed today, as they are almost every time the President issues another executive order. This white supremist view of history has to be destroyed.