Latest news with #StoriesofRaceandAmericanSculpture
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Democrats request inspector general to probe Trump's order targeting Smithsonian
More than 70 House Democrats are requesting the Smithsonian inspector general to kickstart an investigation into President Trump's executive order targeting Smithsonian museums, arguing the president's action is encroaching on the institution's independence. Seventy-one House Democrats, led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Paul Tonko (N.Y.) are criticizing Trump's March 27 executive order, which says the Smithsonian Institution 'has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' Democrats said in a Thursday letter to Smithsonian Inspector General Nicole L. Angarella that Trump's order 'would infringe on the independence of the Smithsonian Institution to carry out its core mission to provide Americans and the world with the tools and information we need to forge our shared future.' Because of it, lawmakers are requesting that Angarella's office 'investigate the impact of implementing' the executive order on the Smithsonian Institution's 'non-partisan mission and operational integrity as a beacon of history and culture.' They asked Angarella to 'fully utilize your oversight authority to 'promote the efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of Smithsonian's programs and operations' by providing a thorough report detailing how the Smithsonian Institution will accomplish its mission following the directives outlined in the executive order.' White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, in a statement to The Hill, called the letter 'another frivolous attempt by the Radical Left who can't stand that President Trump is bringing sanity back to our institutions.' The inspector general's office declined to comment on the matter. The administration argued in the March executive order that museums in Washington 'should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.' They have pointed to an exhibit at the American Art Museum dubbed 'Stories of Race and American Sculpture' and to references at the National Museum of African American History and Culture that said individualism, hard work and the idea of a 'nuclear family' are parts of 'white culture.' The Smithsonian Institution was created by Congress in 1846 for increasing the 'diffusion of knowledge.' House Democrats said the adherence to the administration's demands would undermine the 'very rationale for the creation of these museums.' The administration has faced dozens of lawsuits from advocacy groups who have sought to prevent the president's push to terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within and outside the government. Updated at 4:48 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
02-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
House Democrats request inspector general to probe Trump's order targeting Smithsonian
More than 70 House Democrats are requesting the Smithsonian inspector general to kickstart an investigation into President Trump's executive order targeting Smithsonian museums, arguing the president's action is encroaching on the institution's independence. Seventy-one House Democrats, led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) are criticizing Trump's March 27 executive order, which says the Smithsonian Institution 'has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' Democrats said in a Thursday letter to Smithsonian inspector general Nicole L. Angarella that Trump's order 'would infringe on the independence of the Smithsonian Institution to carry out its core mission to provide Americans and the world with the tools and information we need to forge our shared future.' Because of it, lawmakers are requesting that Angarella's office 'investigate the impact of implementing' the executive order on the Smithsonian Institution's 'non-partisan mission and operational integrity as a beacon of history and culture.' They asked Angarella to 'fully utilize your oversight authority to 'promote the efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of Smithsonian's programs and operations' by providing a thorough report detailing how the Smithsonian Institution will accomplish its mission following the directives outlined in the executive order.' The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment. The inspector general's office declined to comment. The administration argued in the executive order that museums in Washington 'should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.' They have pointed to an exhibit at the American Art Museum dubbed 'Stories of Race and American Sculpture' and to references at the National Museum of African American History and Culture that said individualism, hard work and the idea of a 'nuclear family' are parts of 'white culture.' The Smithsonian Institution was created by Congress in 1846 for increasing the 'diffusion of knowledge.' House Democrats said the adherence to the administration's demands would undermine the 'very rationale for the creation of these museums.' The administration has faced dozens of lawsuits from advocacy groups who have sought to prevent the president's push to terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within and outside the government.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's attacks on museums and libraries echo the Nazi playbook
The Trump administration is slashing funds for museums and libraries, as a way to coerce these and other liberal arts institutions to bend to his movement's will in a fashion reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Writing for MSNBC, sociologist Robyn Autry summed up the racism at play in a recent Trump recent executive order that targets the Smithsonian and expresses particular angst over an exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture that educated visitors about racist pseudoscience. Autry wrote: One of the things that has Trump angry is 'The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,' an exhibit at the American Art Museum that innovatively positions nearly 100 sculptures alongside statements about scientific racism. That's the discredited belief that there are biologically distinct races of people, with some more superior than others. The exhibition examines how artists and art objects have assisted, reflected or challenged such racist thinking since the 18th century, but Trump, in his executive order, expresses disappointment that the show 'promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct.' Now is as good a time as any to read my previous reporting on Trump's promotion of racist pseudoscience. His attack on the National Museum of African American History and Culture is one way the Trump administration is trying to enforce a racial hierarchy based on bigoted myths. Politico recently reported on another way Trump is trying to bring humanities-focused institutions to heel. In mid-March Trump signed an executive order that gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which funds museums and libraries around the country. According to Politico: An agency responsible for funding museums and libraries across the nation is the latest to be shrunk by President Donald Trump's cuts to the federal government, with its entire staff apparently put on administrative leave Monday. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides grants to 'advance, support, and empower' museums, libraries and similar institutions in the U.S. according to its website, was named in an executive order this month along with several other agencies. Trump's order directed the Institute of Museum and Library Services 'be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,' shrinking it down to its statutory minimum. A Trump official reportedly told Politico that the cuts to the institute are necessary to 'ensure hard-earned tax dollars are not diverted to discriminatory DEI initiatives or divisive, anti-American programming in our cultural institutions.' In a letter seeking a meeting with the institute's acting director, the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies said that money from IMLS accounts for 'an average of one-third to over one-half of each State Library Agency's annual budget.' And there's been no suggestion from the Trump administration as to where else these libraries ought to get funding to account for the cuts the administration is making. What Trump appears to be after with his crackdowns on libraries and museums has some parallel in the way Hitler and the Nazi regime attacked similar institutions in Germany in the 1930s. What the Nazis accomplished with brute force, Trump and MAGA are attempting to do with economic and financial coercion. Beginning in 1933, Nazis raided libraries for supposedly 'un-German' books, some of which were publicly burned and derided as inappropriate for German consumption due to their content. Much like with the MAGA movement's book-banning efforts, some of the books targeted by Nazis were written by minority groups, like Jews, or about the LGBTQ experience. (Back in 2023, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted an eye-opening discussion about this with Debra Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom.) In 1937, the Nazis raided museums and seized artworks to place them in what they billed as a 'degenerate' art exhibition, a propaganda effort meant to show the public that the Nazis would tolerate only the art that aligned with the party's views. Defending this effort to suppress the arts, Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda, claimed, 'German art of the next decade will be heroic, it will be like steel, it will be romantic, non-sentimental, factual; it will be national with great pathos, and at once obligatory and binding, or it will be nothing.' Hitler himself denounced 'degenerate' art pieces as those which 'insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill.' The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum also explored the Nazis' 'degenerate art' exhibit in the short video below, noting that the point was for Hitler to wield power over non-governmental institutions to ensure they promoted 'traditional German values' and the purported superiority of the 'Aryan race.' While the methods may be different, the purpose of the Nazi attacks on libraries and museums was no different than Trump's now. Such institutions are known as sites of free thought, imagination and innovation. At best, their content and collections encourages visitors to understand the world around them and the perspectives that shape it — forces like racist and anti-LGBTQ bigotry — and to envision ways to build a better world. And these things are a threat to regimes intent on policing thought and ensuring the masses comply with their revanchist, bigoted agenda. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wes Moore: Trump order over Smithsonian museums is ‘deeply disrespectful'
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said President Trump's order looking to control the 'divisive narratives' at Smithsonian museums and federal sites is 'deeply disrespectful.' Moore joined CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, where host Dana Bash asked about Trump's recent order, which cites an exhibit at the American Art Museum titled 'Stories of Race and American Sculpture' and references the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 'I just find it deeply disrespectful that their definition of making America great again is actually challenging some of the things that makes America great in the first place,' Moore said. Moore said America is a place that was created by inviting people in from all around the world to be part of its journey. 'And loving your country does not mean lying about its history,' he said. 'Loving your country does not mean dismantling those who have helped to make this country so powerful and make America so unique in world history in the first place.' Trump's executive order claims the Smithsonian Institution, which operates many museums in Washington, has 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology' in recent years. 'Museums in our nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,' the order said. It gives Vice President Vance the ability to eliminate content from the museums that do not align with the Trump administration's vision. It will also give Interior Secretary Doug Burgum the power to determine if public monuments, memorials or statues removed during the Biden administration give a 'false construction' of American history. Moore, the first Black governor of Maryland and third Black governor of any state, said history should not be erased, but lifted up and celebrated. He said that him being elected to lead the state of Maryland is not indoctrination, it's history. 'It's a joint collective history and it's one that we should be celebrating, talking about the history of this country, all parts of it, flaws and all because that's what gives America strength and that's what makes us move forward,' Moore said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
30-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Wes Moore: Trump order over Smithsonian museums is ‘deeply disrespectful'
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said President Trump's order looking to control the 'divisive narratives' at Smithsonian museums and federal sites is 'deeply disrespectful.' Moore joined CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, where host Dana Bash asked about Trump's recent order, which cites an exhibit at the American Art Museum titled 'Stories of Race and American Sculpture' and references the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 'I just find it deeply disrespectful that their definition of making America great again is actually challenging some of the things that makes America great in the first place,' Moore said. Moore said America is a place that was created by inviting people in from all around the world to be part of its journey. 'And loving your country does not mean lying about its history,' he said. 'Loving your country does not mean dismantling those who have helped to make this country so powerful and make America so unique in world history in the first place.' Trump's executive order claims the Smithsonian Institution, which operates many museums in Washington, has 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology' in recent years. 'Museums in our nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,' the order said. It gives Vice President Vance the ability to eliminate content from the museums that do not align with the Trump administration's vision. It will also give Interior Secretary Doug Burgum the power to determine if public monuments, memorials or statues removed during the Biden administration give a 'false construction' of American history. Moore, the first Black governor of Maryland and third Black governor of any state, said history should not be erased, but lifted up and celebrated. He said that him being elected to lead the state of Maryland is not indoctrination, it's history. 'It's a joint collective history and it's one that we should be celebrating, talking about the history of this country, all parts of it, flaws and all because that's what gives America strength and that's what makes us move forward,' Moore said.
