From the days of our founding, America has been both/and: both/and slaveowner and Abolitionist, both/and misogynist and Suffragist, both/and exploiter of workers and labor organizer. That dichotomy is built into our characterological DNA. Our triumph lies not in pretending we have no evil shadows, but in the consistency with which generations have risen up to dissolve them.
President Trump’s attack on the exhibits of slavery at the Smithsonian Museums, particularly the National Museum of African American History & Culture, is part of a larger White Nationalist agenda at the core of Project 2025 and behind much of what his administration stands for. It should not be seen as anything less pernicious than that.
Erasing, invisibilizing or rewriting anyone’s individual or group history is a profound transgression. According to the Talmud, it’s a form of “soul murder.” It’s also a common tactic in the totalitarian’s playbook, and perverts our collective memory.
We need a huge outcry of support for the Smithsonian Museum’s exhibits being curated by museum curators and historians, not crass politicians. Spread the word.
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