09/27/2026
"Let's tell the truth," outgoing Smithsonian head Lonnie Bunch blasted Trump's attacks on the nation's museums and drew a standing ovation. Trump wants signs outside the Smithsonian branding its historians unpatriotic, and Bunch answered that the full truth about slavery is the deepest love a country can get.
As reported by the Guardian, Bunch was speaking at the 10th anniversary of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where he was founding director.
He leaves at the end of the year. He told ABC News he had fought as long as he could.
The fight has been ugly. A 162-page White House report released on July 4 accused the museum of turning the American story into a political weapon meant to divide and demoralize citizens. It even proposed a sign over every entrance claiming the exhibits were made by people who "don't want you to love your country."
The Smithsonian sits outside the executive branch, overseen by a board of regents that includes Chief Justice John Roberts and JD Vance. Trump can't simply rewrite the exhibits himself.
So he went after the pavement. His executive order directed the National Park Service to put temporary signs on the sidewalks leading to the museum, steering visitors toward sources the administration approves of.
Last year Trump complained online that the Smithsonian talked too much about how bad slavery was.
Too much. About slavery.
Bunch has worked at the Smithsonian since 1978 and was the first Black person and first historian to lead it. He didn't flinch.
When people say the museum dwells on slavery, he said, he thinks of his enslaved ancestor, who believed in an America that had given him nothing. Bunch said he wishes he had that kind of faith.
The people who built this country in chains paid in full and were never paid back.
Telling their story isn't hatred of America. It's the bare minimum they're owed.
A country's greatness only makes sense when you look at all of it, Bunch argued. A curator's job is to aim the flashlight where the powerful would rather you didn't look.
The far-right Heritage Foundation has already promised his successor won't treat the Smithsonian as a culture war battleground. Coming from the side that declared the war, that's rich.
Bunch closed with something no executive order can touch. On his worst days, he said, he walks down to Emmett Till's casket and reminds himself he can keep going.
Trump can have the sidewalk. The history is inside.
