National parks axe signs about climate, slavery and Japanese internment

The removals come after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March seeking to remove “improper partisan ideology” from federal institutions.

The National Park Service has removed signs at Acadia National Park in Maine that make reference to climate change amid the Trump administration’s wider effort to remove information that it says undermines “the remarkable achievements of the United States.” A sign has also been removed from at least one additional park that referred to slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and conflicts with Native Americans.

The removals come after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March seeking to remove “improper partisan ideology” from federal institutions, including the Smithsonian museums, that he says was perpetuated by the Biden administration. Park Service officials have broadly interpreted the order to apply to information on racism, sexism, Indigenous persecution, gay rights and climate change.

That sweeping effort has also led the Park Service to order the removal of information related to slavery, including an iconic photo of a formerly enslaved man displaying the scars on his back, which was first reported by The Washington Post. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, subsequently confirmed that the photo was ordered removed from the Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia.

Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said in a statement earlier this week that all interpretive signage was under review.

“Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it,” she said.

https://wapo.st/4nyQrWW

Down the memory hole...