On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would alter the Smithsonian Institution and would eliminate programs that promoted “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.” This action aligns with the government’s efforts to combat alleged progressive prejudices in higher education, including those at universities and the arts.
” Galleries in our Nation’s money may be places where people go to learn,” he said, not to be subjected to ideological education or divisive stories that distort our shared history.
He particularly mentioned the White House’s 2016 addition to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Women’s History Museum, both of which are still under construction.
The President claimed that over the past ten years, there has been a” deliberate and popular” effort to rewrite American background, replacing “objective facts” with “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,” which, in his opinion, would denigrate the country’s “founding rules” in a negative light.
Under the fresh order:
- Vice chairman JD Vance, who serves on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian, will be in charge of removing such ideologies from all of the institution’s components, including its museums, academic and research centers, and the National Zoo.
- Following the police killing of George Floyd and the fall of the Black Lives Matter movement, the attempt suggested the possibility of restoring Confederate monuments.
- Before the 250th celebration of the Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall may be renovated in time for the celebration.
- In consultation with the White House budget office, VP Vance will work with the White House to ensure that programs that “degrade shared American beliefs, divide Americans based on race, or market programs or ideas that are contrary to federal law and policy are funded in the future.”
- According to news organization AP, The Women’s History Museum is required to not “recognize men as people in any respect.”
The Smithsonian Institution’s key director, Linda St Thomas, declined to comment on the professional order.
The Smithsonian Institution: What is it?
The Smithsonian Institution, which includes the National Zoo and 21 galleries, was founded with funding from English scientist James Smithson. It is the largest gallery, educational, and research facility in the world. Along the National Mall in Washington, there are eleven of these exhibitions.
It was funded by James Smithson ( 1765–1829 ), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States, to establish “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The work establishing the Smithsonian Institution was signed into law by President James K. Polk on August 10, 1846 by the US congress.
Trump has taken a number of methods since taking office. He had lately appointed himself as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ‘ chair with the purpose of updating its development. Moreover, the administration threatened Columbia University with ending its funding by several hundred million dollars by making several changes.
