Writing for The Medium<\/a>, education expert Dr. Jerry W. Washington called the order part of \u201cthe fight over American memory,\u201d a political war that has increasingly targeted race-based historical narratives. \u201cOver months of discussing cultural memory wars, the removal of DEI content, and the nuances of racial dialogue, I\u2019ve seen this gap widen,\u201d Washington wrote. \u201cIt highlights a fundamental divergence not just in policy preference, but in how we interpret history, power, and truth itself.\u201d Washington and others see the executive order as an extension of Trump\u2019s 2020 directive banning diversity training in federal agencies\u2014an action that set the stage for a conservative backlash against critical race theory (CRT) and racial equity initiatives. \u201cCRT became a catch-all term\u2014a manufactured villain used to silence any acknowledgment of systemic racism, white privilege, or the real struggles of marginalized communities,\u201d Washington noted. \u201cIt was never about theory. It was about control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat control has since expanded. Dozens of states have enacted vague educational gag orders aimed at stifling classroom conversations about race and history. DEI programs have been dismantled across colleges and public institutions. Now, with the Smithsonian\u2014the keeper of the nation\u2019s collective memory\u2014under the microscope, Black historians and curators fear a broader erasure. \u201cThe campaign effectively poisoned the well,\u201d Washington wrote. \u201cMaking any substantive discussion of systemic racism politically toxic.\u201d For many Black Americans, the concern is deeper than academics. It\u2019s personal. The Smithsonian\u2019s inclusive storytelling\u2014exemplified by the NMAAHC\u2014has provided generations with a long-denied mirror to see themselves in the American narrative. To have that narrative constrained or rewritten at the behest of political power is to have identity and truth under siege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs we have done throughout our history,\u201d Bunch wrote, \u201cthe Smithsonian will work with the Board of Regents, including the Chief Justice, Vice President, and our congressional and citizen Regents.\u201d But he made clear that the Institution\u2019s compass remains unchanged: \u201cThe board understands and appreciates the Institution\u2019s mission, as well as the importance of scholarship, expertise, and service to the American public.\u201d Still, the fight over who gets to define America\u2019s story is far from over. \u201cThe consequences are real,\u201d Washington warned. \u201cThis is about more than exhibits. It\u2019s about erasing the truths that make America whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Young, the director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), is currently on personal leave and not leading the museum, according to Smithsonian officials. The leave began on March 14 and will continue for an \u201cundetermined period,\u201d according to Kevin Gover, the Smithsonian\u2019s under-secretary for museums and culture. Shanita Brackett, the museum\u2019s associate director of operations, has stepped in as acting director. Young has served as director since January 2021, succeeding Lonnie G. Bunch III after Bunch became Secretary of the Smithsonian. Under Young\u2019s leadership, the museum launched a digital \u201cSearchable Museum\u201d in the fall of 2021 and kicked off its $350 million \u201cLiving History\u201d campaign the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His unexpected leave comes as former President Donald Trump escalates efforts to reshape national cultural narratives. A recent executive order issued by Trump directs Vice President J.D. Vance to work with the Smithsonian Board of Regents on content oversight. That directive has alarmed museum officials, historians, and members of the Black community, who see it as a direct attempt to influence how history is presented, particularly Black history. The order has cast a spotlight on the NMAAHC, which opened in 2016 under Bunch\u2019s leadership. Once praised for unearthing America\u2019s untold Black stories, the museum is now facing political scrutiny for content Trump labeled as divisive and anti-patriotic. Bunch addressed the situation in a memo to Smithsonian staff, writing that the institution \u201cwill continue to showcase world-class exhibits, collections, and objects, rooted in expertise and accuracy.\u201d He wrote that the Smithsonian \u201cremains steadfast in our mission to bring history, science, education, research, and the arts to all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young\u2019s museum career began in 2005 at Emory University, where he taught English and creative writing and served as a curator at the university\u2019s rare books library. In 2016, he became director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library, one of the oldest Black cultural institutions in the United States. During his five-year tenure, he raised $10 million in funding, launched a literary festival, boosted attendance by 40 percent, and acquired archives from cultural icons, including Harry Belafonte, Sonny Rollins, and James Baldwin. An author of 16 books of poetry and nonfiction, Young also serves as poetry editor for The New Yorker<\/em>. The executive order follows Trump\u2019s earlier efforts to dismantle racial equity initiatives, including his 2020 directive banning diversity training in federal agencies. Historians say those efforts have evolved into a larger campaign targeting how race, power, and history are discussed nationwide. Dr. Jerry W. Washington, an education expert who has written extensively about the cultural and political battles over historical memory, described the Trump-led effort as part of \u201cthe fight over American memory.\u201d In an article for The Medium<\/em>, Washington wrote, \u201cIt highlights a fundamental divergence not just in policy preference, but in how we interpret history, power, and truth itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nHe pointed to the national backlash against critical race theory as evidence of a strategy designed to eliminate discussion of systemic racism and white privilege. \u201cCRT became a catch-all term\u2014a manufactured villain used to silence any acknowledgment of systemic racism, white privilege, or the real struggles of marginalized communities,\u201d Washington wrote. \u201cIt was never about theory. It was about control.\u201d Since Trump\u2019s 2020 directive, more than 30 states have introduced or passed laws banning certain classroom discussions of race and history. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have been dismantled across school districts, colleges, and public agencies. The Smithsonian, which is considered the nation\u2019s most visible repository of historical scholarship, is now being pulled into that campaign. Bunch told staff that the Smithsonian would continue to work with its Board of Regents, which includes the Chief Justice, the Vice President, and members of Congress. He noted the board\u2019s role in guiding the institution and its understanding of \u201cthe importance of scholarship, expertise, and service to the American public.\u201d Washington warned that what\u2019s at stake is much deeper than a shift in policy. \u201cThis is about more than exhibits,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s about erasing the truths that make America whole.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The memo from Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first African American to lead the Smithsonian Institution, was as much a message of reassurance as a call to vigilance. Following President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping executive order targeting what he labeled \u201canti-American ideology\u201d in cultural institutions, Bunch acknowledged the growing uncertainty and laid out a path forward. \u201cWe remain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,1428,1429],"class_list":["post-2317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-lonnie-g-bunch-iii","tag-smithsonian-institution","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2318,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions\/2318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}