'Absolutely sickening': Trump admin tears down slavery exhibits near Independence Hall
President Donald Trump's officials took down the educational exhibits on slavery in Independence National Park in Philadelphia on Thursday, triggering immediate outrage.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the move, which comes the same week as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, occurred at the site of the President's House, the former mansion of George Washington when Philadelphia served as the national capital. The exhibits were a memorial to nine people whom Washington held in slavery at that location.
The report suggests the removal of over a dozen displays, including "Life Under Slavery" and "The Dirty Business of Slavery," could be in response to an executive order by Trump commanding the Department of the Interior to flag and scrutinize any display in national parks that "inappropriately disparage" the United States.
"Around 3 p.m. Thursday, an Independence Park employee who would not give his name told an Inquirer reporter that his supervisor had instructed him to take down all the displays at the iconic site earlier that day. Three other individuals later joined the employee to help remove the educational exhibits. The final display was removed at 4:30 p.m. The displays were then loaded into the back of a white Park Service pickup truck," said the report. "'I’m just following my orders,' the employee repeatedly said, not acknowledging if he was tasked with removing the displays because of the executive order."
Passersby reportedly objected to the removals, with one man, 47-year-old Jack Williams, calling the removals "absolutely sickening" and telling The Inquirer if NPS officials had any spine, they'd have called in sick rather than carry out the order. Meanwhile, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition's Michael Coard said, “It’s a disgrace, and that’s an understatement. I cannot say what I’m thinking, because as a criminal defense attorney, I know better. What’s going on now is absolutely unheard of in the history of the United States of America.”
Last year, the Park Service was ordered to remove a number of other memorials to slavery and the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans, including a famous image of a man covered in whipping scars at a site in Georgia — all in the name of presenting a more positive image of America at national sites.
Trump also imposed a ban on diversity policies that was so strict it forced the Pentagon to suspend observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month last year.