On Tuesday, the Trump Administration launched a review of select Smithsonian museums to “ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.” The eponymous host of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 was not happy about the move and claimed the move was insulting to everyone who has fought and died for this country.
During a conversation with professor and former NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, Cooper declared, “Well, it's also I mean, I just have to say, insulting to the memory of people who fought and died for this country. And I'm not just talking about those who fought in wars overseas. I'm talking about, you know, Americans, enslaved people who died in this country, who were lynched, who were chased by mobs. I mean, the list goes on and on.”
Cooper also had Brooks on back in March when President Trump first issued an executive order related to the Smithsonian. Nothing has changed. There is still no evidence that the administration seeks to erase racism or slavery from the Smithsonian. The administration’s definition of “divisive or partisan narratives” is “our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed [emphasis added].”
[See NewsBusters for more]