Defying erasure
Resist the theft of America and its history
The 47th president's administration must be seen as a pattern, not just (in Lemony Snicket's phrase) a series of unfortunate events. It is one of willful destruction and lawlessness, not merely a pursuit of different policies.
The America I treasure is a country where people have struggled since its inception against institutionalized hatred and for justice. It is a country where the gap between our high ideals and our record is addressed by organized efforts to close the gap.
The president and his allies are aggressively seeking to erase that history of struggle, and along with it to disenfranchise portions of our population. The evident attitude is that only white, Christian, cisgender males are entitled to power.
Our would-be king has declared as an article of faith and without evidence that diversity, equity and inclusion are about hiring unqualified people and promoting an anti-American ideology. This from a former reality show host and continuing Russian asset who deems any disagreement with him as grounds for deportation without a trial in the case of immigrants, and removal from the bench in the case of judges.
A man who routinely accuses political opponents of treason, usurps the power of Congress, thinks he can unilaterally amend the Constitution, picks fights with foreign allies, and habitually claims ignorance of what is happening in his own administration deserves either handcuffing or straitjacketing, not having "Hail to the Chief" played whenever he enters a room.
On what planet can it seriously be insisted that America needs to take over Greenland and Canada, news organizations and law firms that displease Glorious Leader should be banished, and our history should be rewritten as if the Confederacy won the Civil War and the Soviets won the Cold War?
To use a Star Trek reference, I feel as if I were abducted in my sleep and placed in a distorted holodeck version of the world in which an evil madman has taken over. Computer, end program!
Judging by social media, the president's supporters prefer heckling to a constructive discussion. Wild assertions are treated as if they are made true by repetition. Anyone who gained expertise through diligent study is dismissed as an "elite."
If you thought Trump's assault on culture and the arts would end with his attacks on universities and the Kennedy Center, you were mistaken. Now he has signed an executive order on the Smithsonian Institution targeting programs with 'improper ideology.' The museums singled out include the National Museum of African-American History and Culture and the Women's History Museum, which is now in development.
The Smithsonian was created in 1846 by an act of Congress "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Vice President Vance, an ex-officio member of its board of regents, has been tasked by Trump with purging its alleged radical ideology.
My friend Robert Naylor, a retired Associated Press journalist and executive who now works as an executive coach and Diversity/Equity/Inclusion consultant, writes, "This is an attempt to erase the contributions of African Americans and women to the American narrative. How is it that a museum that recognizes the history of a people who have contributed so much to the fabric of this nation, and that was so painstakingly curated, is either divisive or improper."
NMAAHC has been showered with praise since its opening. The only way to satisfy white supremacists regarding its collections would be to remove them altogether. I suppose the objectionable items could be returned to their donors. But the uproar over the attack on this revered museum, if not stopped, would be another signpost on America's march toward a second civil war.
The real threat is not trans women, Blacks, and immigrants of color who have the temerity to regard themselves as full human beings. The threat is from bigotry, greed, and lust for power, which have long been with us. The culture wars are a distraction that serves the oligarchs.
We are strong enough to face our historic wrongs and recognize that our history includes efforts to correct them. It is time to put away our glass menagerie and admit that we are not so easily breakable.
To quote Maya Angelou's 1993 inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton:
"Here, on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, and into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope—
Good morning."
This task is not for the Supreme Court, but for each of us.
Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist at [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.