Special Assistant to the President Lindsey Halligan on Thursday defended President Donald Trump’s attempts to downplay slavery in monuments and historical exhibits at the Smithsonian, arguing slavery needs to focus on “progress.”
“We often talk about preserving history in museums and not erasing it, but how do you balance that?” Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” host Marc Lotter said to Halligan in an interview. “We need to be able to review this while honoring even our not-so-pleasant past.”
“It’s not about whitewashing; it’s all about full context. So, while slavery is obviously a horrible aspect of our nation’s history, you can’t really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress,” Halligan said. “I think we need to be focusing on the progress that we’ve made since then, and we need to stop focusing so much on the lack of progress. We need to keep moving forward as a country.”
Trump on Tuesday ordered a review of the Smithsonian, saying its exhibits focus too much on “how bad Slavery was” and not enough on the “Brightness” and “Future” of America. Trump’s actions are the latest example of him diminishing Black history in America and portraying a sanitized record of the nation within its very own cultural institutions.
In addition to purging federal DEI policies from the government and investigating companies and schools that have embraced them and diversity, Trump has tried to minimize racism and discrimination and the contributions of Black people in America. For example, his administration has tried to erase or downplay references to Black historical figures, such as the WWII Tuskegee Airmen and Harriet Tubman, and has called for reinstating Confederate statues of figures who fought to preserve slavery.
While the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture features exhibits that focus on slavery and the Middle Passage, the museum also highlights historical contributions of civil rights activists and Black cultural icons. Amid Trump’s scrutiny of the Smithsonian, the director of that museum, Kevin Young, stepped down earlier this year.
The White House told NBC News that the president seeks to widen his review of other museums outside the Smithsonian.
