One of the things the American right-wing cannot forgive today's American left-wing is that the second refuses to be arrogant of America and questions the uniqueness of the American task in human history. Realizing that possibly America is not the “best country in the world”, as it has been honking for decades, is simply a generational shock for Americans.
It is only now that the American school – to the horror of conservatives – speaks bolder about American major sins: the genocide of indigenous people, slavery and imperialism. Hence the inevitable conflict between the conservatively raised society (and the current pseudo-conservative government) and the education system, especially higher.
In fresh months Trump's attention has shifted to culture and art. The associated environments are – and have always been – as progressive as academic elites. The problem is that artists, writers and musicians cannot be made blackmail as easy as universitiesBecause only a tiny part of them trust on government funds. Besides, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Trump had already liquidated at the beginning of the year.
In March, Trump dismissed Deborah Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (National Center for Performing Arts) in Washington, D.C., and appointed himself secretary of this prestigious institution. Rutter's release was due to drag queen performances and promotion of progressive content; Trump, for example, hates a musical with awards Hamilton, who has made a large deal in fresh years, among another things, due to the multiethnic cast: Presidents Washington and Jefferson played African American and as Hamilton's wife cast Chinese.
It is advanced time to take on museums too, the president, whose voters and political sponsors each day ask why American culture is inactive steeped in content attacking the US past, highlighting the past of slavery, gay rights, and now transgenders.
American museums usually trust on private grants, grants from all kinds of NGOs and only in 3rd place – depending on the location – from state or local funds. The exception to this standard is simply a network of Smithsonian Institution museums in the capital of the country. These, although privately funded, receive 60% of their budget from the national government. Unlike typical another American museums, access is free of charge, and the tradition of travelling to Washington, D.C., to learn about national heritage, was and is part of the life of many Americans.
Citizens come to see beautiful white buildings specified as the Jefferson and Lincoln monument, and visit the National Air and Space Museum (National Museum of Aviation and Space), where you can see Wright brothers' 1903 aircraft, Apollo 11 Columbia command module, and Discovery space shuttle.
The Smithsonian Museum Complex includes 21 museums, libraries, investigation centers and a zoo. It is the "straight America" where a star flag is stored, which is spoken of by the American national anthem, the hat of Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones, but besides souvenirs from concentration camps for the Japanese, which were founded during planet War II in the west of the country.
After The execution of George Floyd In 2020 and after the large anti-racist protests that swept the country that summer, many American institutions concluded that the time had come for change. Diversification practices have been introduced, which in the case of museums meant hiring directors and curators representing cultural and cultural minorities, and showing content that reflects the artistic experiences and practices of these minorities. As erstwhile manager of the Smithsonian National image Gallery before Trump released her, the museum's ambition was to break the tradition of showing only “rich pale-skinned men” (the wealthy, the light and the small).
After 2020, museums actually changed course. For example, they stopped glorifying the conquest of Western North America and the war with the Indians, began showing the Founders of the United States as slave-holders and raised gay flags. As a result, America began to uncover itself to visiting museums in a little favorable light. Grandparents taking their grandchildren to the museum to bring them closer to the characters of American heroes – generals, presidents or inventors – are now coming out outraged. Is that why they pay taxes to hear that their large country was built on genocide and violent exploitation?
The current controversy is not absolutely new. In 1995, on the occasion of the end of planet War II, the National Aviation and Space Museum intended to show the hull of Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress bomber who dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The exhibition was besides expected to show what happened to nipponese civilians as a consequence of the bombing. However, the exhibition was cancelled as a consequence of protests, whose center was the claim that showing the suffering of the Japanese, the heroics of American soldiers who fought in planet War II are being reduced. (The plane's hull was shown any time later, already in another context – without mention of nipponese civilians).
In fresh years, exhibits and narratives have besides appeared in the Smithsonian museum about a very fresh, unverified history, as the right emphasizes. In the image Gallery, for example, there is simply a image of Anthony Faucie, a specialist in infectious diseases, who directed the White home public wellness policy during Trump's first administration, during the coronavirus epidemic. In time, Fauci became the object of the hatred of Trump voters, accused of lying about the pandemic and being held liable for the ruin of the economy and the shortcomings in the education of young Americans, who for months lockdowns were not allowed to go to school. In turn, there were references to 2 Trump impeachments in the first term, removed after his win in 2024.
Trump promised to give America her lost greatness and gloria; to make the Americans arrogant of their country and army again, they would halt self-defeating for slavery, the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. It's time to decision on, he came to Trump's conclusion, due to the fact that in a year the United States will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights and Citizen by Thomas Jefferson, owner of slaves and father of kid slaves.
Trump sent a letter to the Smithsonian calling for an audit and verification of the presented material. On 3 September, the secretary of the Lonnie Bunch Institute undertook to revise the museum program in the next fewer months. Smithsonian Museums do not have much area for manoeuvre due to the fact that the governing 17-member Regents Council is subject to Congress. This means that shortly Trump can bring his people in, as he did in dozens of government agencies and in the ultimate Court.
The question, of course, is: what this means for American culture and art – 1 that will be promoted and financed, and 1 that will gotta satisfy itself with working in the shadows, waiting for a more progressive government and greater public readiness to face its past.
