In his latest attack on reality itself, Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social account that he thinks Smithsonian museums focus too much on “how bad slavery was.” The White House released a list of exhibits to demonstrate his point, such as a series on how to be anti-racist, artwork depicting the horrors of the Middle Passage, programs on LGBTQ+ history and Latino people with disabilities, and so on. Ali Velshi notes that, in fact, slavery spans 250 years of United States History (if you measure conservatively), and its legacy continues to shape society today.
Trump is targeting the Smithsonian Institution in the same way he targeted universities. These free, federally funded institutions reveal the history of America and showcase the tireless work of researchers, historians, sociologists, and others for the benefit of posterity and the enrichment of the American people. They are places where people from all walks of life come together to receive historical knowledge.
This process is inherently democratic, and an attack on knowledge and the way we collect, preserve, and share history is an attack on democracy itself.
Velshi welcomes Princeton professor Eddie Glaude and Harvard University professor Imani Perry to further discuss Trump’s efforts to remove exhibits on slavery from Smithsonian museums and how these attacks reflect the underlying White Nationalist ideology behind them.
Our institutions and our communities need support to continue this fight. It’s essential to commit to the value our public institutions represent.
LISTEN: ALI VELSHI, PROFESSOR GLAUDE, AND PROFESSOR PERRY ON SLAVERY AND AMERICAN HISTORY
WATCH: VELSHI AND GUESTS TALK WHITE NATIONALIST IDEOLOGY
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