According to the news service Reuters, the National Park Service has removed 51 exhibits from 38 sites across the United States. The list was compiled by the Trump Administration after an order of U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelly for the list. Judge Kelly has also ordered the National Parks to restore the exhibits and panels by July 3.
The removal came in response to President Trump criticizing a “revisionist movement” that claimed the United States was “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” Trump issued an order last year ordering that the parks “restore sanity” by taking down depictions of slavery, Native American oppression, harm to our natural environment, and other now-prohibited topics.
According to Reuters:
“A National Park Service official in an accompanying court filing said that the inventory was likely just a partial list, and that not every item identified for removal had been taken down yet.
Kelley, who was appointed by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, noted in her ruling that an internal National Park Service database leaked by anonymous civil servants in March listed more than 500 items that had been identified for review for potential removal.
The agency said as a matter of transparency, the list it filed also included six items removed from a 39th national park pursuant to a different executive order by Trump.”
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