Is Trump sanitizing Black historical past within the identify of anti-wokeness?

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President Trump just lately described Smithsonian museums as “uncontrolled” for emphasizing, in his view, “how dangerous slavery was.” He’s accused cultural establishments of rewriting our nation’s historical past, claiming these efforts “undermine” America’s achievements by casting our founding ideas as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or in any other case irredeemably flawed.”

However let’s pause there actual fast. As a result of historical past isn’t a spotlight reel. It’s the total story — the triumphs and the traumas. Attempting to sanitize historic information is anti-democratic.

Right here’s the irony: In 2017, after visiting the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition, Trump had nothing however reward.

Don’t take my phrase for it — take his. “It’s an important honor to be right here,” Trump mentioned. “This was some stunning morning and what a job they’ve completed, like few others has been capable of do.”

And he didn’t cease there. Trump continued: “This museum is a lovely tribute to so many American heroes. Heros like Sojourner Reality, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Booker T Washington, Rosa Parks, the Greensboro college students, and the African American Medal of Honor recipients, amongst so many different actually unbelievable heroes. It’s wonderful to see. I went on a reasonably complete tour, however not complete sufficient ... I’ll be again.”

There’s extra. … “This tour was a significant reminder of why now we have to battle bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly types.”

Hmmmm.

Properly, again then, he understood that America’s greatness can't be separated from its struggles. Displays like those on the Smithsonian take years of labor, guided by students and curators, to current historical past that's each trustworthy and full.

So what modified?

As a result of slavery isn't a footnote — it’s the muse of this nation. Actually. By 1840, enslaved labor made the U.S. the world’s prime cotton producer, enriching each Southern plantations and Northern industries. Enslaved individuals constructed the roads, canals and railroads that linked the nation. Their pressured labor created — and concentrated — wealth, cementing disparities that ripple by immediately.

Some say, “That was so way back, what does that should do with me, immediately?” Properly, the whole lot. Slavery denied Black households the possibility to construct and accumulate wealth. In the meantime, white households benefited from applications just like the Homestead Act and the GI Invoice, which weren't equally utilized to Black Individuals. Wealth, like trauma, passes down.

That’s why immediately the typical Black family has lower than one-fifth the wealth of a white family. And practices like redlining and unequal entry to capital proceed to maintain the hole large.

We are able to maintain two truths directly: America is a spot of immense alternative, and America continues to be residing within the lengthy shadow of slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism. To disregard that actuality isn’t patriotism — it’s denial. And the best way ahead isn’t to comb it underneath the rug, however to have leaders who totally perceive how slavery and the racism that adopted nonetheless echo by society immediately — and who're dedicated to doing the exhausting work to lastly rectify it.

And but, since returning to workplace, Trump has shifted. He’s signed govt orders limiting how Black historical past could be taught. Rolled again civil rights protections. Attacked DEI initiatives. Restored Accomplice names to bases and monuments. He’s not the identical man who as soon as mentioned “now we have to battle bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly types.” That very same individual now dismisses the examination of slavery as being “too damaging.”

So I've to ask: Is that this about his cognitive well being? Did he not imply what he mentioned in 2017? Or is that this an intentional try to reshape the story of America and erase the uncomfortable truths in order that solely the shiny components are left over?

If that’s the aim, then let me be clear: That’s not patriotism. That’s propaganda. The true American story — the one which makes us sturdy — isn't about overlaying up our wounds. It’s about confronting them, therapeutic from them, and constructing a rustic the place the following era, like my daughter, can stand taller as a result of all of us had the braveness to inform the reality.

Lindsey Granger is a Information Nation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary present “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.