LIES AND INSANITY: THE PRESIDENT’S APPROACH TO HISTORY

On March 27, 2025, the President issued yet another inane Executive Order, this one a “Presidential Action “, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Given this President’s aversion to DEI, antipathy toward Black people, and embrace of American exceptionalism, this action is not surprising. It was startling, however, that this “Presidential Action” singles out just a few of the twenty-one museums that the Smithsonian includes, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NAMAHC).

The “Presidential Action” directs the Vice President and others to “remove improper ideology …and recommend to the President any actions to fully effectuate such policies. The executive order also will “prevent expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law.” There is the usual “dig” at trans people, declaring that the new American Women’s History Museum “not recognize men as women”. There’s more! The action would like to restore monuments that have been removed since 2020. The Presidential Action references " a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper ideology".

What, exactly, is improper ideology? How is acknowledging the fact that the South lost the Civil War “minimizing”. Can we mention the number of Presidents who were slaveholders or just downright racist? Can we note that the White House showing of Birth of a Nation inflamed racism and condoned it? I am among the many uncomfortable with this attempt at whitewashing history, And I am amused that, in the name of “truth and sanity”, the Presidential Action will insert lies and insanity into our history and museums.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was dedicated on September 24, 2016, pursuant to 2003 legislation signed by President George Bush. The thirteen years between the time the legislation was passed, and the museum was dedicated was but the last stop in the quest for this museum. When Lonnie Bunch took on the role as Museum Director in 2005, he had “one staff member, no collections, no funding and no site for a museum.” Today the almost 400,000 square foot museum has attracted more than 12 million visitors since it opened.

It is criminal for the President of the United States to issue a Presidential Action that Is replete with lies and misrepresentations. But isn’t that the way of the Project 2025 crowd. They want to ban books, revise curricula, erase the comprehensive contributions that diverse populations have made to this country. So, plaques are being removed from Arlington National Cemetery, Black and Women’s History Month Celebrations were cancelled, and the content of some federal training programs has been changed to erase reality in the name of “restoring truth and sanity”. Do we mean the introduction of lies and insanity?

I fondly remember the dedication ceremony of the museum. Titled “Remember. Honor.

Commemorate. Thank. Celebrate.”, the colorful program has the usual congratulatory letters from Presidents Obama and Bush, and importantly Supreme Court Justice John Roberts who is, by law, the Chancellor of the Smithsonian. Hundreds (or more) of us gathered behind the Museum to listen to speeches and music. There was so much exuberance at that gathering. An ill-advised “Presidential Action” can’t steal the energy of the exuberance, and energy that has drawn millions to the museum, and inspired its staff to present innovative and informative exhibits. I get to the museum whenever I can, sometimes just taking my laptop to sit somewhere and be inspired. Those of us who were inspired and joyful on September 24, 2016, must now be inspired to fight for the integrity of our museum.

History belons to she who holds the pen. If we don’t write our history down, we won’t have it. Lonnie Bunch and his team gathered thousands of “Black history items”, including belongings of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. The Museum and its history cannot be micromanaged or ideology-edited. This administration wants to click its heels three times and go back to a time when the world was a narrow white occasion. Whitewashing history will be easier said than done. Indeed, these efforts to attack the Blackstonian and other Smithsonian institutions will simply encourage us to use our churches, sororities, and other institutions to more regularly teach history.

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Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Economist/Author/Educator