Racists Work to Erase MLK

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Today is a federal holiday honoring the life of one of America's pre-eminent civil rights leaders:  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The holiday was first proposed in 1968 following the assassination of Dr. King, and after fifteen years of hard organizing work pitted against heavy conservative opposition, Congress finally passed legislation establishing the national holiday in 1983, and it was signed into law by President Reagan.   

The Trump administration has a pronounced problem with anything in American culture or society detracts from what they see as our nation's white, European heritage, and his team seems to  constatnly work at chipping away references to the contributions to our national story by racial and ethnic minorities.    

Currently, as an example, the Trump administration is focused on a review of exhibits in the Smithsonian Institution.  The administration is concerned with what it calls "wokeness," a term created by Trump and his people to denigrate things they see as running counter to their mythos of a male-dominated, white American history and culture.   The Trump administration's focus at the Smithsonian is the museum's coverage of slavery and systemic racism in America, things they feel detract from the successes our country has experienced through the efforts of white culture.  Things that detract from that White message are what the Trump team labels as "improper ideology."

If history does not align with your story of America, then that history must be changed or buried.

So how does that racist attitude tie in with our national celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day?  During his second administration Trump has signed executive orders ending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, a head-on attack against Dr. King's long and steady march toward inclusion of all peoples in the American dream regardless of race, creed, or color.   One of Trump's executive orders was titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," a directive which sought to eliminate "divisive race-centered ideology in federal institutions and end DEI programs in federal government" - all of which flies in the face of Dr. King's goals.

Of course, with Trump there always has to be an element of pettiness.  One example of his personal vindictiveness toward the notion of racial justice and equality focuses on his recent cancellation of a National Parks' program which offered free admission to all US National Parks on the two federal holidays most aligned with the history of Black Americans:  Juneteenth and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day.   Thanks to Trump's action, the parks no longer offer free admissions on those days, but Trump made up for that overt racial slight by then proclaiming that from now on there would be free admission on Flag Day - June 14th - his birthday!

It would be had to get more petty than that!

Donald Trump seems to have some issues with programs, goals, and even museum displays which suggest that the United States has a multi-cultural and complicated past, and his actions speak volumes about his and his administration's attitude toward race in the present day.

Perhaps it's all just a ploy to keep us from focusing on other things, like the Epstein files.