A Federal Judge issued an order to the Trump administration to restore panels taken down at the President’s House in Philadelphia that describe George Washington’s relationship with slavery and detail the lives of his nine slaves who worked for him there. Here is a report from NPR station WHYY.
A federal judge on Monday ruled the Trump administration must restore the slavery exhibits at the President’s House Site on Independence Mall while the case over the National Park Service’s actions continues. In January, employees from the National Park Service removed the display that detailed the lives of nine people George Washington enslaved at the home while he was president.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe compared the administration’s rationale for removing the signs detailing slavery to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s “1984” — a dystopian novel about authoritarianism.
“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” Rufe wrote in her decision. “It does not.”
Walking through the exhibit with her family Monday afternoon, Upper Darby resident Yolanda Parks agreed.
“How will we know where we came from if the history [exhibit] doesn’t remain,” Parks said. “You can’t change history just because right now you’re feeling some kind of way. I’m glad that we’re putting it back up. Very sad when it came down, but very excited that it’s getting put back up.”
Rufe, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush, referenced the Orwellian Big Brother regime several times in describing the Trump administration’s actions.
Walking through the exhibit with her family Monday afternoon, Upper Darby resident Yolanda Parks agreed.
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