Rewriting History

Floor Speech

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Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague, Representative Stansbury, for bringing us together tonight to discuss an important and alarming situation.

Every American should be outraged at the Trump administration's attempt to erase American history and specifically to erase the history of Black, Native American, Hispanic, and other people of color who have helped shape this country.

The Department of the Interior under this administration recently removed a slavery-related exhibit at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia recognizing people enslaved by the Founders. They removed a sign from Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park mentioning Native American massacres. They have removed a sign at Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site in Colorado describing the forced removal of a Native Tribe and a family's slave ownership.

Why? Why are they doing this? When people try to erase history, they are often doing it because they want to shape the future. They want to shape a future in which America does not honor the full diversity that has made our country the beacon of light that it is in the world. They do not want people to know about the struggle that went into building this more perfect Union. They want to build a future that looks more like the past. We cannot allow that to happen.

This insidious plot to erase American history goes far beyond the national parks and the Department of the Interior. The Trump administration has given guidance to Federal agencies to limit the use of or avoid using 200 words, including ``Tribal,'' ``Native American,'' ``immigrants,'' ``racial,'' ``Black,'' and ``women.''

They are not trying to erase all of our history. In fact, they have restored a Confederate statue of General Albert Pike here in Washington, D.C., and ordered a portrait of Robert E. Lee to be placed in the Pentagon. These are men who committed treason against this country in the defense of slavery.

This administration has continued to allow its own employees to post white supremacist language on social media. A 25-year-old DOGE employee wrote: ``You could not pay me to marry outside my ethnicity,'' and, ``Normalize Indian hate.'' This came to light a year ago. He is still employed by the administration.

The assistant chief counsel for ICE had a social media account: ``America is a White nation,'' and ``'Migrants' are all criminals.'' He is still employed.

Mr. Speaker, this is not okay. We must fight back, and I thank my colleague for bringing attention to this matter.

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