My ancestors carried America’s truest history in their scarred hands and weary bones. They survived the chains of white supremacy, the bombs and White mobs during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and the chokehold of Jim Crow—not so a president could drape the truth in the silk of white comfort at the Smithsonian and call it patriotism.
Today, President Donald Trump is working to rewrite that history in our nation’s most prestigious museum—the Smithsonian. Should he succeed, the truth of the African American experience may be left in the hands of white supremacists to curate, distort, and diminish.
Recasting the Smithsonian for White Comfort
Since his first term, Trump has pursued an aggressive campaign to recast America’s story—launching the 1776 Commission a ‘white supremacist version’ of American history to counter The 1619 Project, pushing for a “patriotic education” that minimizes slavery’s role, and now, in his second term, signing an executive order that targets the Smithsonian.
Rebranding Historical Truth as ‘Unfair’ to White America
Trump’s move is part of a deliberate strategy: strip away the uncomfortable truths, elevate myths of white innocence, and package the past into something palatable for those who benefit most from its distortion.
“We want the museums to talk about the history of our country in a fair manner, not in a woke manner or in a racist manner, which is what many of them, not all of them, but many of them are doing,” President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office yesterday at the White House.
Trump’s call for a “fair” version of history is nothing more than a demand for a flattering one. In his language, “woke” is a slur for any account that dares to name the violence and exploitation that built this country, and labeling honest history “racist” is gaslighting at the presidential level—turning the oppressor into the victim and recasting centuries of injustice as an unfair slight against white America.
Weaponizing the Smithsonian to Wage a Culture War
His Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, echoed Trump’s sentiments: “The Smithsonian is supposed to be a global symbol of American strength, culture and prestige … Instead, the exhibits have clearly been taken over by leftwing activists who have used the Smithsonian as yet one platform to endlessly bash America and rewrite?/?erase our magnificent story.”
Miller’s claim that the Smithsonian has been “taken over by leftwing activists” echoes the same fearmongering once used to discredit civil rights leaders and historians who refused to bow to whitewashed narratives.
That accusation lands with even greater weight considering the Smithsonian is led by Lonnie Bunch, the institution’s 14th Secretary and its first African American leader. Notably, it was Bunch who gave Trump a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture during the president’s first term.
We’ve seen this playbook before.
Donald Trump is trying to rewrite America’s story — starting with the Smithsonian. Stand with The Black Wall Street Times to protect the truth of our history before it’s erased.
Rewriting the Past to Control the Future
After the Civil War, the “Lost Cause” movement rewrote the Confederacy’s defeat as a noble stand for “states’ rights,” scrubbing slavery from the narrative and turning traitors into heroes. This is why we see Confederate monuments and names on military bases and school buildings today.
In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler’s government rewrote museum exhibitions to erase Jewish history and glorify Aryan identity. Like Trump’s executive order, the Nazi regime’s interventions in museums weren’t just about removing artifacts—they were about dictating the interpretation of history itself, ensuring every exhibit reflected state ideology. Both understood that by controlling the curator, you control the story, and by controlling the story, you control the people.
Moreover, authoritarians have always understood that controlling history means shaping the minds of the next generation.
It’s why Miller framed the Smithsonian’s overhaul as a mission to “restore the patriotic glory of America and ensure the Smithsonian is a place that once more inspires love and devotion to this nation, especially among our youngest citizens.”
And in Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), an autobiographical manifesto written by Adolf Hitler, he wrote, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.”
In both cases, the goal was the same as it is now: to replace collective memory with collective amnesia, and in doing so, secure political power today, tomorrow and into the future. Hence, what Trump and his supporters are demanding from the Smithsonian is a state-sponsored manufacture of a strategic white supremacist lie.
Propaganda works by framing truth as bias, casting the oppressor as the victim or, in some cases, the hero, and recasting the nation’s moral failures as something Black Americans should “get over” while quietly rewriting the historical record.
The Other Hand on the Scales of History
Trump may hold the bully pulpit, but Congress holds the purse strings—and with them, the power to protect the Smithsonian’s integrity. As the institution’s primary funder and overseer, Congress can ensure that its exhibits remain grounded in scholarship, not ideology.
This isn’t theoretical. In the 1990s, when political pressure mounted to alter Smithsonian exhibits on the Enola Gay and Japanese-American internment, congressional oversight and public advocacy helped preserve curatorial independence. We need that same vigilance now.
Lawmakers can block the weaponization of federal dollars to promote propaganda, demand transparency in every exhibit review, and defend the museum’s mission to tell the full, unvarnished story of America.
If Trump’s executive order is an attempt to bend history toward white comfort, Congress has the authority and the obligation to stand as its straightener, preserving the Smithsonian as a place where truth is not for sale.
Guarding the Nation’s Memory
The Smithsonian is more than a collection of artifacts; it is a living archive of our national memory. To manipulate its story is to manipulate America itself. If we allow whitewashed narratives to replace hard truths, we will not only betray the pain and resilience of those who came before us—we will teach future generations to inherit that betrayal as fact.
Congress must decide which side of history it will claim: the side that hides behind comforting myths, or the side that defends the truth, however uncomfortable. And the American people must make that choice impossible to ignore—because if truth dies in the Smithsonian, it will not stay confined to its walls. The stakes are nothing less than the soul of America’s story.
Donald Trump is trying to rewrite America’s story — starting with the Smithsonian.
If he succeeds, the hard truths of slavery, racism, and Black resilience could be replaced with a state-sanctioned lie. I refuse to let that happen. But defending our history from political whitewashing takes resources.
$8/month — Join the fight to stop Trump’s revision of American history.
$80/year — Help expose and challenge every attempt to manipulate our national memory.
$250/year — Become a Founding Member and protect the truth for generations to come.If you believe history belongs to the people — not to presidents or their propagandists — stand with me. Invest in truth before they erase it.
