from the think-positive…-or-else dept
The Trump Administration(s) aren’t simply content to declare satire dead. Trump’s reappearance in the Oval Office demands we dig up the corpse and desecrate it.
And while we’re desecrating that corpse, why not desecrate a few national landmarks? That’s the pitch from the National Park Service under Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Spring-boarding off Trump’s revisionist history-enabling “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order, Park Service staffers are being forced to ask Americans to tell them what history should be remembered and what should be forgotten.
Under the heading “Encouraging Public Participation,” [comptroller Jessica] Bowron’s memo states: “All NPS units are required to post signage that will encourage public feedback via QR code and other methods that are viable.”
An example image of a sign leaked to NPR for Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri, the site of the second major battle of the Civil War, ahead of its potential installation, asks visitors to identify “any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.” (The sign also asks for feedback concerning areas and services that need repair or improvement.)
The obvious goal here is to bury things that white Americans did to non-white people and to reinstate other white people (mostly Confederate figures) to the positions of glory they never deserved. People can pretend it means something else, but that’s all this is: yet another effort to obscure the actions of racists and bigots so the government can comfortably pretend these historical figures (and their actions) are worthy of public praise and celebration. The whiter and straighter they are, the better. That’s how it’s gone everywhere else Trump has shoved his nationalistic brand of quasi-patriotism down the federal government’s throat and it’s no different here.
If you somehow still can’t be convinced this is nothing more than a little park signage cleanup that isn’t meant to vanish the more shameful parts of American history, here’s another fun data point you might consider before sounding off in the comment section:
The US Army said Tuesday it will restore the names of seven Army bases that previously honored Confederate leaders.
“We are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee,” President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday at Fort Bragg, which was briefly known as Fort Liberty until the administration changed it back earlier this year. “We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change.”
Trump is saying the quiet part out loud here. These bases are all being “renamed” but really, they’re not. Trump is telling it like it is: these bases will revert to their Confederate army-honoring names. The military, however, is going to pretend that’s not what’s actually happening.
According to the Army’s Tuesday announcement, Fort Barfoot, a Virginia base previously named after Confederate General George Pickett, will be named in honor of 1st Lt. Vernon W. Pickett, a soldier who received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism during World War II.
[…]
A Virginia fort once named for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will carry the namesake of Pvt. Fitz Lee, who received the Medal of Honor for his service during the Spanish-American War.
[…]
Georgia’s Fort Eisenhower will revert back to Fort Gordon, this time honoring Medal of Honor recipient Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, who during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia, defended wounded crew members at a helicopter crash site.
The base […] was previously named after Confederate General John Gordon…
These are the acts of petulant children. These are not the acts of grown men in positions of power. They want to honor people who actively fought against their own countrymen just so they could continue to enslave their fellow human beings.
And that’s not all. The renamed forts also erase women and Black service members. There are more examples in the article, but these are the names being removed to “honor” Pvt. Fitz Lee, who’s only being honored because his last name is the same as General Robert E. Lee’s. This isn’t a new low for this administration, but it’s definitely near the bottom.
[Fort Lee] was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col Charity Adams in 2023. Gregg helped desegregate the Army, including at Fort Lee, while Adams, in 1944, “was selected to command the first unit of African-American women to serve overseas,” according to the congressional naming commission. Her service was chronicled in the 2024 film “The Six Triple Eight.”
Fuck these racist pieces of shit. I really don’t know what’s holding the Trump Administration back from issuing an executive that will “restore Christian faith” by the ceremonial placement of burning crosses in unbelievers’ yards.
Filed Under: army, bigotry, censorship, donald trump, doug burgum, erasing history, national park service, racism
