Trump Targets Smithsonian in Push to Whitewash Slavery and Black History

President Donald Trump’s latest cultural offensive takes aim at America’s museums, with a particular focus on the Smithsonian Institution and its work documenting the realities of slavery and systemic racism. On Truth Social, Trump complained that 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.” Instead, he demanded museums highlight “Success,” “Brightness,” and “the Future.”

His administration has launched what it calls an unprecedented review of Smithsonian exhibits to ensure alignment with a political agenda that claims to celebrate “American exceptionalism” while removing what it deems “divisive or partisan narratives.” The letter sent to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III—the first African American to hold the post—makes clear this effort intends to reshape how the nation’s history is told.

For Black communities, this is deeply troubling. Bunch himself has said the National Museum of African American History and Culture exists “to help a nation understand itself — an impossible task without the full recognition of the horrors of slavery.” The attempt to downplay slavery, racism, and their legacies strikes directly at this mission. Trump may have once praised the museum for honoring African American contributions, but his current push seeks to silence the very truths that define those contributions’ context.

Scholars warn this is unworkable. “Nobody could provide those kinds of materials in such a comprehensive way, in that short amount of time, and so it’s just an impossible task,” said Janet Marstine, a museum ethics expert, about the administration’s demands. Yet the White House insists it will “explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian.”

This fight is not limited to museums. Trump has already cut arts and library grants and targeted universities with threats of stripped federal funding. His critics warn these actions amount to cultural erasure. As W. Kamau Bell put it, “This is how authoritarians operate.”

Link: CNN