What we know now about Trump’s order targeting Day at the monument
The president ordered officials to request language that “inappropriately condemn Americans” at memorials and elsewhere. This is what we know now.
WASHINGTON – Hundreds of people joined the rally on May 3, showing support for the Museum of African American History and Culture in the wake of threats from the Trump administration and civil rights activists who aimed to erase black history.
Organizers have planned the rally after President Donald Trump wanted to cut “a tale depicting American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive” in a recent executive order.
The #Handsoffourhistory rally began on the city hall stairs before the crowd marched three blocks into the National Mall museum. Speakers, including faith leaders, civil rights activists, and black female student life and fraternity members, urged the crowd to oppose efforts to limit black history and threat teaching to institutions that demonstrate that history.
“We will not be erased,” said Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Engagement, a civic engagement organization. “This is an attack on our very existence.”
Organizers were spurred last month following Trump’s order to restore the truth and sanity of American history. Among them, Trump has picked out several Smithsonian Society museums, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He said the Smithsonian was “under the influence of divisive, racially ideologies.”
“We will return the Smithsonian facility to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness,” reads Order.
The speaker also vowed at rally to fight to preserve black history, which banned many on black experiences, including states such as Florida that restricted black history teaching and banned several books.
At the rally, protesters held the signs saying, “I should be taught history, not erased,” and saying, “I’m blacking my history.”
When protesters marched into a museum called Blackson, they recited “Let go of our history.”
Nicole Williams of Greenbelt, Maryland, said it was important for her to take part in the march.
“If we don’t know our history, we are destined to repeat it,” Williams walked to the museum.
Williams, who previously represented her sorority Delta Sigmatheta as a speaker, said the threat to Black museums and institutions was real.
“This administration withholds left and right funds on anything that relates to black, indigenous and Latino people,” she said. We are not going to take this quietly. ”
Renee Smith of Upper Marlborough, Maryland said she and others must push to celebrate the rich history and contributions of African Americans.
“We’re in a crisis too,” she said. “I don’t want it to be lost to future generations.”
Organizers said they are planning a series of actions, including a social media campaign. “It’s not just a moment,” said Calsona Wise Whitehead, president of the Association for Researching African American Life and History. “It’s exercise.”