Trump’s effort to ‘whitewash history’ at national parks is backfiring
A new Trump administration policy urging national park visitors to flag “negative” information about America at the sites is backfiring.
Instead of reporting the disparaging information on signage throughout the parks, visitors are criticizing the policy, according to Government Executive.
Of the nearly first 200 responses the National Parks Service received about the new policy “no single submission pointed to any such examples” of the negative information, the outlet reported.
“Instead, in the nearly 200 submissions NPS received in the first days since the solicitations were posted, visitors implored the administration not to erase U.S. history and praised agency staff for improving their experiences,” according to Government Executive.
The Trump administration policy is a follow-up to a March executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
“It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing,” the order states.
“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 directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to implement the order.
NPS units are “required to post signage that will encourage public feedback via QR code and other methods that are viable,” NPR reported.
One such sign, is posted at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri, the site of the second major battle of the Civil War, the outlet reported.
Visitors there were encouraged to report “any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
Newsweek reported the administration also removed mentions of transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website, despite a transgender woman being the person initiating the riot.
Visitors at national sites across the country are not complying with the directive, according to Government Executive.
A visitor to Yosemite National Park wrote: “The executive order to asking for feedback is s—,” according to Government Executive.
“Parks already do an amazing job telling stories that contain hard truths and everyone is entitled to the truth to make better decisions in our lives,” the visitor wrote. “So what if people feel bad?”
“It seems like a clear attempt to whitewash history,” said Dennis Arguelles with the National Parks Conservation Association told CBS News.
“To erase narratives from the past that they feel don’t fit the narratives that they want to see portrayed, and probably most dangerously, omit aspects of our history that are really important for us to understand and learn from.”