03/29/2025
Trump's order on museums sparks debate among Americans on patriotism and history
Reuters
BIANCA FLOWERS, ANDREW HAY AND JULIO-CESAR CHAVEZ
Sat, March 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM EDT
By Bianca Flowers, Andrew Hay and Julio-Cesar Chavez
(Reuters) -Ernest, a lifelong Washington D.C. resident, stood on the National Mall on Friday with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture's distinctive shape inspired by African motifs in the background.
The vendor, who declined to give his last name, said he saw President Donald Trump's recent executive order aimed at restricting programming he deemed anti-American at federally funded museums and cultural institutions as an attack on the American value of respect for diverse opinions.
"We are a diverse country -- made of all races, all cultures and they're trying to take it away," Ernest said.
It was an illustration of how Trump's order, issued on Thursday, spurred everyday Americans, historians and politicians to consider the meaning of patriotism and the purpose of history.
Singling out the Smithsonian Institution, which comprises 21 museums and the National Zoo, Trump ordered the removal of what he called "improper ideology." The president also instructed Vice President JD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian Institution's 17-member Board of Regents, to oversee the taking down of monuments and sculptures that the order called “divisive narratives that distort our shared history."
An example cited in the order included a Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit titled "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture," which according to the museum's website "examines for the first time the ways in which sculpture has shaped and reflected attitudes and understandings about race in the United States."
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was accused in the order of attempting to portray "American and Western culture as harmful."
Smithsonian officials and several Democratic and Republican members of its board did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
