National park gift shops move to ban “corrosive” history books

The National Park Arrangement is flagging books in park gift shops that may go against Donald Trump s efforts to purge so-called corrosive ideology from American history According to internal records reviewed by the Washington Post NPS employees were directed to description items that might run afoul of new regulations for review by last week The directives come from a May order by Doug Burgum United States Secretary of the Interior entitled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History The order calls for the Secretary to review society monuments memorials statues markers or similar properties including parks and museums to remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union and unmatched record of advancing liberty prosperity and human flourishing Among the titles flagged for review by employees were The Project A New Origin Story and What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me Deb Haaland s Inauguration by Alexis Bunten a children s story book about the first Native American to serve as U S Secretary of the Interior Related How America got so weird The Pilgrims made us do it At South Carolina s Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park flagged titles focused on the history of slavery including books like Harriet A Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and the essay collection Slavery and Population History The Tough Stuff on American Memory The crackdown has drawn anger and indignation from historical authors and park advocates alike Alan Spears of the National Parks Conservation Association blamed the Trump administration for forcing the hands of park employees If park staff don t comply with this directive they may lose their jobs Spears revealed in a message The administration is making their jobs harder and killing their morale at a time when Park Facility staff numbers dwindle near historic lows Spears praised park employees for teaching the facts about arduous topics like slavery racism and atmosphere change Americans count on our parks to tell truthful stories and accurate information Spears mentioned The residents can handle the truth Marjory Wentworth s Shackles an award-winning children s book about understanding slavery was flagged by the NPS She communicated Charleston s Post and Courier she was shocked but not surprised by the news There s something about a picture book being brought into question that really indicates how far this executive is willing to go to erase history That has terrifying implications for all of us Wentworth declared Read more about U S history David Brooks faces the truth of US history and runs away Who s a true American and who decides JD Vance has answers America slides into totalitarianism and it won t be easy to reverse The post National park gift shops move to ban corrosive history books appeared first on Salon com