New senate bill would codify Trump order to ban ‘wokeness’ from Smithsonian
A Republican senator filed a bill to codify one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, one that targets the Smithsonian Institution and the “spread of divisive ideology.”
On Tuesday, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., filed the “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Act,” which Banks described as a means to rid the Smithsonian of “wokeness,” according to a statement from his office.
“It’s time to stop letting activists rewrite our past,” Banks said in the statement. “This bill puts President Trump’s order into law to ensure our national museums celebrate our values, our heroes, and what makes America great.”
Banks’ bill would direct the Smithsonian Board of Regents’ executive appointees to “remove any improper ideology and divisive racial narratives” from the institution’s properties, as well as prohibit future projects “from degrading American values, dividing Americans based on race, or violating federal law and policy.”
The bill would also prohibit any references to transgender women at the American Women’s History Museum. Lastly, it would reinstate American historical sites “that have been removed or changed for ideological reasons,” the bill read.
On March 27, Trump signed an executive order aimed at the Smithsonian and the monuments and memorials overseen by the Department of the Interior. The order identified exhibits that reflect on race and gender within the context of American history, which the order called “ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.”
Trump’s order directs Vice President JD Vance, who is on the Smithsonian’s board, to prohibit any federal funds going toward “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
“To advance this policy, we will restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness — igniting the imagination of young minds, honoring the richness of American history and innovation, and instilling pride in the hearts of all Americans," Trump’s order read.
The American Historical Association hit back at the administration and stated Trump’s executive order “egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution,” according to a March 31 statement . It added that the claim Trump made about the Smithsonian displays “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” was false.
“Historians explore the past to understand how our nation has evolved,” the statement read. “We draw on a wide range of sources, which helps us to understand history from different angles of vision. Our goal is neither criticism nor celebration; it is to understand — to increase our knowledge of — the past in ways that can help Americans to shape the future."
Related News: Donald Trump
Read the original article on MassLive .
