by Julianne Malveaux
(TriceEdneyWire.com)—When does a depiction of history turn into a “corrosive ideology”? When the current administration is working overtime to erase facts about our nation’s history and foundations. They want to remove any reminders about the evils of enslavement and its critical role in the development of his country. We need to say it repeatedly; there would be no united states without enslavement. We build this nation. Our labor produced the White House (or The House that Enslaved People Built), the Capitol, and even some of the odious monuments to slaveholding colonialists. This is a history that this President would erase.
The Washington Post reported that an anonymous source said the administration “has ordered the removal signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks”. This is a follow up from the President’s March executive order asking the Interior Department to eliminate information that reflects a “a corrosive ideology”. The Post reports that the National Park Service is removing signs that fail to whitewash our nation’s history. The President has said many times that we talk about enslavement too much. I say we cannot talk about it often enough.
Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia is the site of John Brown’s failed rebellion against enslavement. According to the Post, more than 30 signs referring to this history, have been flagged for alteration or removal. This desperate attempt to rewrite history is our President’s corrosive ideology. He promised to fix the economy, and he has not. Instead, he has fully immersed himself in the culture wars, seemingly prioritizing the culture wars over economic stability.
Many people have seen the iconic photograph, The Scourged Back, show the back of a man who was beaten so many times that his back is a painful tapestry of scars. It was used, years ago, to promote the film, Twelve Years A Slave. A copy of that photograph has been part of many exhibits about the Civil War and enslavement. It was exhibited at Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia but has been removed because it supposedly was part of “corrosive ideology”. Yet the most corrosive of ideologies is one that cannot stand the truth about our nation’s history. The so-called Chief Executive Officer of these United States ought to be more interested in the economy than in important historic documents. But the corrosive ideology of this administration has restored Confederate monuments, attempted to scrub museums of historical reference, and removed textbooks at the Naval Academy.
This Administration fully understands the importance of symbolism, of pomp and circumstance. This may be why the President would like to rename the Kennedy Center after himself and add his wife’s name to another section of the Center. This is why the President will give the murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is why Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose legal credentials are highly questionable, says she will “absolutely” target who use hate speech, including any negativity toward Charlie Kirk.
The corrosive ideology of this administration is to suppress or to erase. Erase the photograph, The Scourged Back, because it makes some people uncomfortable. Suppress words critical of Charlie Kirk because they aren’t sufficiently deferential to a provocative activist who invited criticism.
This is a delicate time to talk about Charlie Kirk. I mourn his murder, am abhorred by the killing of a 31-year old father. It would be foolhardy to deny the provocative nature of his work, but a detailed analysis of his legacy is premature —those who choose to be critical might, for the sake of decorum, share their views after the man is buried.
Conservatives say they believe in free speech actually believe in free speech only when conservatives agree with it. A free speech nation would welcome the exhibit of The Scourged Back. A free speech nation would not embrace an Executive Order “Restoring Truth in American History” since the purpose of that Executive Order is to suppress truth and whitewash history.
This is the corrosive ideology of this administration. Lie, suppress, deny our nation’s history. And to think we have years more of this corrosive (to use their word) form of government.