Black churches are encouraging members to show support for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
First reported by the AP, the idea first stemmed from Rev. Otis Moss III of Trinity United Church of Christ, who encouraged members to follow suit after donating $25 to protect the museum.
Other churches, including the Empowerment Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church that’s run by Rev. Robert Turner, the Middle Church that’s run by Rev. Jacqui J. Lewis and the First Church of God run by Bishop Timothy Clarke, also joined in supporting the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture by supporting their basic membership plan.
Turner has also continued to show his support by visiting the museum as part of his 43-mile on-foot journey from Baltimore to Washington, in advocacy for reparations.
“I laid my wreath down there to show solidarity with the museum and the history that they present every day,” said Turner per the AP upon visiting the museum for this month’s journey.
The show of support for the National Museum of African American History and Culture comes amidst a new executive order by the Trump administration. Signed on March 27, the order claims that the museum and other Smithsonian exhibits do not accurately reflect American history because they perpetrate a “divisive, race-centered ideology.”
Since then, Vice President JD Vance, who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, has been named as the point person to lead efforts to remove “impromper ideology” across the nation.
Following the executive order, the director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, poet Kevin Young, left his position.
Earlier this week, House Democrats also called out the executive order in a newly shared letter. Sent to Vance, the letter was drafted by Rep. Joe Morelle and other top Democrats who help oversee the Smithsonian Institution.
Echoing previously shared criticism that the order attempts to sanitize U.S. history by targeting Black American history, the writing is the latest attempt by the Democratic party to push against the sitting administration’s removal of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from government entities.
“Unfortunately, we now stand at the brink of seeing the Smithsonian at its worst: shaped solely by the views and ideology of one individual as a means of expanding his political power,” said the letter per ABC News.
“This flagrant attempt to erase Black history is unacceptable and must be stopped. The attempt to paper over elements of American history is both cowardly and unpatriotic.”
