‘Tidal wave of white supremacy’: Trump blasted over removal of slavery criticism at military cemetery
TheGrio...
Black Air Force veteran tells theGrio “whitewashing is an understatement” as critics accuse the Trump administration of sanitizing slavery and erasing Black history.
President Donald Trump is being slammed after removing language criticizing a Confederate monument and its depiction of slavery, as critics accuse his administration of sanitizing Black history and promoting white supremacist ideology.
“To call it whitewashing is an understatement,” said Ed Anderson, a Black veteran and organizer at Common Defense. He told theGrio, “It’s a tidal wave of white supremacy that they’re trying to normalize.”
As The Washington Post reported, the Defense Department removed from its website critical language of slavery highlighted on a page dedicated to the Confederate Memorial. The memorial statue, which was removed from the Arlington National Cemetery in 2023, has long been criticized for its depiction of slavery. After being removed through an act of Congress, the website updated its language to provide historical context.
The Confederate Memorial, which was commissioned by the Daughters of the Confederacy and unveiled 1914, received backlash for depicting an enslaved woman carrying an infant child of a white officer and an enslaved man following his owner to war.
After its removal, the website described it as a “nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery.” The website also described the two Black figures as enslaved people; an enslaved woman depicted as a “Mammy” and the other enslaved man portrayed as a “faithful slave,” which helped to shape false perceptions of Black enslaved people willingly supporting the Confederacy.
The Post also reported that the marker in the cemetery has been replaced by a new sign that omits wording critical of slavery and the Confederacy. This follows other actions by the Trump administration, including the renaming of military bases after Confederate generals, the removal of Black historical figures and events from government websites, and even the removal of portions of an exhibit depicting the enslaved Black people owned by former President George Washington.
“From renaming U.S. military bases to honor Confederate generals to restoring photos of Confederate leaders at West Point to this latest episode of Confederate glorification, it’s part of a pattern of this administration whitewashing history to make the legacy of slavery easier to swallow,” said Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal think tank. “This is what Trump prioritizes.”
U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a member of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, told theGrio, “Donald Trump is erasing Black history.” He added, “We cannot understand who we are as a country without understanding our history, including 250 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow. We should teach that history honestly and learn from the past instead of trying to erase it.”
Anderson, an Air Force Veteran and member of Common Defense’s Black Veteran Caucus, told theGrio, “There’s only so much appealing to the white nationalist Christian movement that they can do, but that seems to be the game plan of this administration.”
Weathersby said while Trump is sanitizing Black history, everyday Americans are “losing their healthcare and taking on credit card debt just to buy groceries because they can’t afford the basics under the destructive policies of this administration.” He told theGrio, “Trump is the reason so many families are struggling right now, yet he has shown far more urgency about sanitizing American history than he has about solving the very real problems in people’s lives.”