The Trump administration has directed employees at the nation’s parks to review all merchandise in gift shops for aspects of anti-American sentiment, according to documents reviewed by the Washington Post.
An executive order issued by President Donald Trump in March instructed staff at national parks to report any gift that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living” or that includes “matters unrelated to the beauty, abundance or grandeur” of a natural feature in its description.
“Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,” the order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” stated.
Trump’s order went further and blamed the Biden administration for pushing a narrative that cast the American experience in a negative light. Employees now face a choice between following the directive or continuting to stock merchandise they view as factually accurate, all by this coming Friday.
Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group told the outlet, “It’d be a shame to pull an actual historical accounting and a well-researched book off the shelves."
In a statement, the National Park Service said it was adhering to the orders from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to implement Trump’s executive order saying, “We’re working closely with them to facilitate an efficient review that does not hinder or impede retail operation.”
Brengel said the park staff now faces a dilemma as whether to follow Trump’s directive precisely or live up to each individual park’s mission which may include uncomfortable truths. “Will this result in the bookstores just selling coffee table picture books? I don’t know,” she said. In light of the administration firing hundreds of employees, finding the resources to scour every book and piece of merchandise will be impossible. “There is no park that can read every book on the book shelves in this time frame,” Brengel added.
Since the order went out, the Park Service has offered a comment-seeking initiative which have received more than 1,700 comments from Americans visiting the nation’s forests, historic battle sites and mountains. According to a spreadsheet obtain by the outlet, most comments support the idea of a nuanced interpretation of American history.
“Also if an American did something negative in the past, why shouldn’t a NPS site discuss it?,” said one commenter. “History isn’t just a collection of the good stories. It’s the good and the bad.”
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