As part of his administration’s war on “wake up,” Donald Trump asked the American public to report any “negative” to Americans in American national parks. However, the public largely refused to support the worldview without the inconvenient historical facts, comments submitted from the National Park and seen by the Guardian exhibition.
Notices were erected on each National Park Service (NPS) website, which covers 433 national parks, monuments and battlefields, and thereafter Possible commands named “Restore truth and reason to American history”issued by the Trump Department of the Interior (DOI). The President has Require Suppress any material that “improperly demeans Americans”.
These signs require visitors to report any damage to the park, as well as to determine “any negative sign or other information for the past or living Americans, or to not emphasize beauty, grandeur and abundant landscapes and other natural features”.
But the nearly 500 comments the Guardians saw in June and July were related to signs submitted by the U.S. public in the U.S., indicating that visitors are mostly reluctant to remove park material about dark chapters of the U.S. past, such as slavery or abuse of Indigenous tribes.
“We are so weak, fragile people, can’t we see the full time and breadth of our history?” a visitor to Muir Woods, California, wrote in July, after deleting a sign called “History of History Is Building.” “Are we so afraid that we must hide the factual history from telling the story of the past? Oh, please!”
“The staff working in this park is one of the kindest, most knowledgeable people you will find anywhere,” another visitor at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Kentucky, wrote in June. “I hate this administration’s belief that it may be concealing the history of the United States with bad light.”
Many comments praised park rangers, or called for more information on issues like Native American experiences or climate crisis. Some complained about the decision to remove the LGBT “T” from the Stonewall National Monument in New York to exclude trans people, while some tourists asked Manzanar, a California factory buried by Japanese Americans during World War II, to tell the little-known truth.
“The history of disinfecting or downplaying this history has caused damage to those who live,” wrote one Manzanar visitor. Another visitor about the new sign added, “The person authorizing the sign should be fired.” “History belongs to all, and even any attempt to rewrite or cover up in our darkest days shall not be tolerated.”
QR Code Reviews are snapshots of public comments filtered before NPS storage, during a turbulent time in the parking lot. almost A quarter of NPS employees left the agency Since Trump became president, it often leads to overstretching and potentially dangerous conditions Quote As “the best idea in America”, like Yellowstone, Everglades and Statue of Liberty.
“Americans have proven that they have a deep relationship with national parks, and what we see from these comments is that the public says it is an insulting and misleading effort.”
“The Rangers shouldn’t be scared to talk about slavery and other things that happened in the United States in the past.
However, not all comments submitted in what park staff calls “the path signs” will be used to guide the park sign renovation. In the comments seen by the guardian, the Park Services Department “reviewed” less than 40, with less than 10 of which were considered absolutely used as part of the response to the indoor department order.
This small portion of comments is mainly consistent with the government’s views. One complained about the “revisionist history based on Woke religion” in Muir Woods, another criticized “fashionable left-hand term,” from visitors to Washington’s Rock Creek Park in Washington, the third criticized the material from Francis Newlands, a material from the U.S. Senator during the First World War, “He was “World War I,” “He was white supremacy and white because they were a universal view.”
“They want this historical version of virtue washing, and they are trying to push the wedge between us and the public,” said a senior NPS employee.
“Every time there is a comment asking for more information about the indigenous peoples, it won’t be admitted. If someone says they’re extremely offended by the logo, it will be marked and sent for review.”
NPS staff is part of the Park Service’s “Resistance Ranger” campaign, which includes over 1,000 off-duty Rangers podcast They said on anonymous contribution that the comments have recently become more pro-Trump since the Park Service has noticed signs of mostly public support.
“It seems that a well-planned effort has been made, and many of the comments look the same or have produced AI,” the employee said. The guardian saw no evidence that the public response has been distorted in this way by the government.
“For the vast majority of the time, we have positive responses from the public every day. People don’t want this. Every day I whisper to me ‘We love the parks and we want to help.'”
The government is expected to take action soon to knock down signs it sees inappropriate. On Monday, it began a separate month process to review and delete other materials from the National Park ruins, such as books and posters found in gift shops. “We have to review every booklet, pins and magnets,” said an NPS employee. “Hundreds of items will be removed.”
A principal based on history park said there are few guidance on how to judge the material as problematic. “It is among the park staff that they already have insufficient resources to find out what to review, which is really unsettling,” they said.
“I tried not to delegate any such delegation because I didn’t want employees to do things that are opposite to their values,” the principal said of the signs.
“It’s a way to stop us from talking about difficult topics and tie our hands behind our backs. Overwhelmingly, the public doesn’t buy it. They don’t want this. When the department sets this up, I don’t think they expect so many comments to be positive, which is somewhat suitable for them.”
Clearance is part of a widespread push Trump administration Bend American history, culture, and scientific life to adapt to its ideological commands.
Military bases and statue Climate Science Report Will Again Be in the Name of Alliance General Will be re-edited There is a possibility of including smearing, edge views, while the current and planned exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution (the largest museum and research complex in the world) will be Review “Evaluation tone, historical framework and alignment with American ideals.”
An NPS spokesman said on September 18, signs found to be “inconsistent” with the indoor order will be removed, covered or restored in a future date.
“To date, the National Park Service has received several substantive comments from all over the country, praising the park program or services, pointing out maintenance issues, or marking potential inaccuracies or information distortions in the context,” the spokesperson said.
“When executing an order, the goal is to foster honest, respectful storytelling to educate visitors while respecting the complexity of our nation’s shared journey, and park staff will only issue viable comments related to that goal.”
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