Trump can try to hide it, but slavery is part of America’s story
The Trump administration took down the slavery exhibit at Independence National Historic Park. The erasure of our shared history might hurt Trump's soul — if only he had one, writes Jenice Armstrong.
It hurts my soul that the Trump administration has made good on the president’s threats to destroy the President’s House slavery exhibit at Independence National Historical Park, something that Philadelphians fought long and hard to get. It would hurt President Donald Trump’s soul, too, if only he had one.
None of this makes America great again. It doesn’t bring down the cost of groceries. It doesn’t help Americans whose healthcare premiums have skyrocketed. It doesn’t make our streets safer. It doesn’t do anything but rile up Confederate-flag-waving racists in Trump’s base. They had an awful lot to say about preserving history when monuments honoring traitorous soldiers who fought for the Confederacy and the right to own Black folks were torn down. But not so much when it comes to the destruction that happened at Sixth and Market streets Thursday afternoon.
I hope that the spirits of the enslaved Africans whose stories had been immortalized in that display adjacent to the Liberty Bell will forever haunt Trump. It is my sincere wish that he and the henchmen who took down signs and dismantled the panels documenting the sad history of the nine enslaved Black people owned by our nation’s first president will never forget what they’ve done.
From this day forward, may they toss and turn each night as they remember the destruction they have wrought, as well as the names of the enslaved whose memorial they defiled: Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Sheels, Richmond, Giles, Oney Judge, Moll, and Joe.
Trump and his enablers can try and hide the facts, but chattel slavery is an undeniable part of America’s founding. This nation wouldn’t be what it is now without the free labor of Africans dragged to these shores against their will and forced to toil for free in brutally inhumane conditions. It’s our story and one that should be acknowledged — not played down because Trump says so.
What will he do next? Take a sledgehammer to the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Washington, D.C.? Empty out the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture? Burn the books about slavery and Black codes that have been for sale in museum gift shops and national parks?
The exhibit at the President’s House was the first I’d ever seen that — instead of glorifying the nation’s first president — humanized the poor people Washington held in the worst kind of bondage. The offices of The Inquirer are right across the street, and I’ve walked through the free outdoor exhibit many times. I used to enjoy seeing the expressions of tourists as they learned about the side of Washington that’s left out of most history books.
Now all that’s left are the empty spaces where the various signs used to be. These sudden omissions at Independence Park make it feel like the historical account now being told at the site is a lie — not unlike the foundational lie of white supremacy that was used to justify the sin of slavery in the first place.
The removals are just another step in Trump’s brutal agenda to take things in America back to how they used to be when white men had everything and Black people had nothing.
Since his return to power, it has been one thing after another: his attempts to destroy all vestiges of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including his decision to no longer allow free admission to national parks on the federal holidays celebrating the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Juneteenth. Instead, park goers can enjoy free admission on Trump’s birthday, as if that’s really a thing.
The president would destroy Black History Month, too, if he could, and I don’t put it past him to try. He’s been clear about his racial animus, restoring the names of Army bases back to those of Confederate military figures and using Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agents to inflict a reign of terror on Black and brown people.
I’m proud that Philadelphia has filed suit to take back what was removed from the President’s House. This is the beginning of the City of Brotherly Love showing the Trump administration that, in the words of Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, “You don’t want this smoke.”