Photo: Getty Images
President Donald Trump's latest executive order is taking aim at "divisive race-centered ideology" in educational and research centers, including the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo.
On Thursday (March 27), Trump signed an order titled the "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," directing Vice President JD Vance along with other top officials to eliminate the "divisive narratives" that "distort" the country's history, per NPR.
"Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive," the order reads. "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."
Under Trump's executive order, Vance with assistance from Vince Haley, the assistant to the president for domestic policy and Lindsey Halligan, the special assistant to the president and senior associate staff secretary, is instructed to work with Congress to stop the Smithsonian from displaying exhibitions and promoting programs that "degrade shared American values or divide Americans based on race." The order also states that future appropriations of exhibitions must "not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum."
The Trump administration blamed Former President Joe Biden for advancing a "corrosive ideology" that sought to revise historical truth.
"Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth," the order states. "Under this historical revision, our Nation's unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed."
The order also seeks to reinstate public monuments, memorials, and statues that were "removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology."
The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.