In our personal lives, there are past events and interactions that we often regret. When we are wise, we learn from these negative experiences. This can be true for governments and businesses.
Yet, President Trump and his supporters now have decided that some of our nationÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s public statements of regrettable actions as well as honors given to non-white or female Americans should be eliminated or whitewashed. Whitewashing can be defined as glossing over or covering up events that those in control want suppressed.
Under President TrumpÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s leadership a dangerous goal is to make sure that by mid-September, our national parks and sites remove or cover up any information that, in his view, is undesirable. In June, the National Park Service, under the control of the Interior Department, posted QR codes and signs at the 433 national historic sites and monuments, including 63 national parks, informing visitors to identify anything they believe should be changed because it reflects negatively on our nation.
Trump signed an executive order in March, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ which was directed to removing ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œimproper, divisive or Anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian Museums.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ And precisely what is ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œimproper, divisive or Anti-AmericanÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥? Is this his way of saying that exhibits in the newest Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, are improper because some Americans dislike being reminded of the evils of slavery and successes of Black Americans?
The essential aspect of regrettable decisions is that individuals and governments learn from them. Germany does not maintain Dachau, Buchenwald and other World War II concentration camp memorial sites because they are proud of them but rather so that future generations can learn from the evil that they perpetrated.
What events and sites will be whitewashed in September? Is HarperÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Ferry, a West Virginia National Historical Park, going to be sanitized? The National Park Service describes it saying, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAt the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, on the ancestral home of the Tuscarora and Shawnee people (are those Native American names offensive to Trump?) lies Harpers Ferry. Here you can explore John BrownÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s raid against slavery. Find your connection to the struggle for freedom, educational and civil rights at Storer College ...ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Do many people know that Storer College was a historically Black college in Harpers Ferry that began in 1867 to educate newly freed slaves and continued until 1955?
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail that goes from the North Carolina and Georgia regions, through six other states before ending in Oklahoma, reminds us of the forced removal of the Cherokees and other Native Americans from their ancestral homes. Having personally visited some of these sites, it is clear this information should never be denied.
The Amache National Historic Site in Colorado and the Minidoka National Historic Site in Bainbridge Island, Washington, do not reflect well on America. Shall our great leaders whose forebears were immigrants and some of whose wives are immigrants cover up what we did to Japanese immigrants and even second-generation Japanese citizens (Nisei) during World War II? Japan was our dangerous enemy, but did we think that all Japanese and their descendants living here deserved to lose everything they owned and be put into squalid concentration camps?
Is the Birmingham Civil rights National Monument in Alabama too unpleasant for our current leaders? The nationÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s newest national park, the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, is in West Virginia. Much of the areaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s history relates to early settlers, coal mining and timbering but also contains information about the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œsubsistence lives of the native people and later pioneers.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Should native peoplesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ history be removed so that thereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s no evidence of them living in what is now West Virginia?
The Interior Department plans to delete or cover up ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œinappropriate contentÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ and ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œnegative informationÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ about ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œpast or living AmericansÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ at national parks and park sites. In TrumpÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s effort to make America look conflict-free, white and male, important American history will be whitewashed and denied. ThatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s un-American.
Diane W. Mufson is a retired psychologist and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch Opinion page.
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