### Trump Administration’s DEI Cuts Threaten Iconic Monuments Honoring Black History
President Donald Trump’s campaign against so-called “wokeism” is expanding to target national monuments, including those that commemorate pivotal moments in Black American history. Among the threatened sites is the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, designated in 2023 to honor the harrowing 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till—an atrocity that galvanized the U.S. civil rights movement.
In a recent legal opinion by the Department of Justice, the door has been opened for the possible reduction or erasure of national monuments, a move that has not been permissible since the 1930s. This has raised red flags about the future of sites like the Till monument, and others around the nation.
Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, expressed his concerns about the possibility of erasing such vital parts of history. “We are seeing this effort to erase and reverse history and historic preservation,” he stated. Spears, a staunch advocate for federal protection of the Till sites in Mississippi and Illinois, emphasizes that the potential rollback of these designations underscores the heightened stakes.
According to CBS News, the Justice Department’s opinion permits presidents to revoke or downsize monuments, which has already prompted reviews of sites like the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands. Alarmingly, the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon is being considered for mining activities, including uranium extraction.
In tandem with these legal maneuvers, Trump’s 2026 budget proposal suggests slashing nearly $1 billion from the National Park Service budget, a move National Park Service Director Chuck Sams condemned as “very sad and egregious,” especially after his role in the designation of the Till monument. “People don’t like to look at their past when it shows a negative light of who we are. But we also know that in order to learn from our own history, we have to learn from our past mistakes,” Sams added.
Critics argue that these actions represent Trump’s broader agenda to redefine American history, often at the expense of diversity and inclusion. This agenda extends beyond monuments, with measures to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from various sectors, including military and corporate environments. The controversy also feeds into recent actions like restoring the name of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to a military base and dismissing Juneteenth—a federal holiday marking the end of slavery—as an unnecessary “non-working” holiday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to queries on the administration’s stance regarding Juneteenth, remarked, “I’m not tracking his signature on a proclamation today. I know this is a federal holiday. I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We’re working 24/7 right now.”
The revisionism at play is condemned by many as a move to strip diversity from the government narrative and is viewed as a dangerous precedent for historical and cultural erasure. As Spears cautioned, the dismantling of these sites represents a deferred dream, if not an outright dismantled history.
Source: dailykos.com.