Jake Spring , The Washington Post; Park Service orders removal of ‘woke’ quotes at Boston’s Bunker Hill monument
A visitor complaint prompted a review of quotes that are anti-war, pro-immigrant or highlight American hypocrisy on slavery ahead of the monument’s 251st anniversary celebration.
"The National Park Service has ordered the removal of three quotes at the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston commemorating a Revolutionary War battle because they have run afoul of President Donald Trump’s policy seeking to scrub “corrosive ideology” from federal institutions, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The site includes panels with quotes from historic figures or writings that reflect on the 200-year-old monument. A visitor at the site complained to park staff about a quote related to women’s suffrage as being “woke” feminist ideology, the people familiar said, and the visitor later sent an email complaint.
That prompted a wider review of material at the site that ultimately led the agency to order the removal of the three quotes in time for the 251st anniversary of the monument on June 17, two of the people said. The panel quotes have not yet been removed...
The quotes ordered to be removed include one from a 1971 anti-war editorial by Vietnam War veterans Arthur Johnson and Bestor Cram, the people familiar said.
“We find, upon reflection, that our duty to our country has not ended ... We as Vietnam Veterans, strongly feel that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life,” the quote reads.
Cram told The Washington Post in an interview on Thursday that he opposed Trump’s policymaking changes across the park system, including the order to remove his quote.
“I‘m completely outraged with the administration wanting to essentially reinterpret history or erase history,” Cram said.
Trump issued an executive order last year directing the Interior Department to eliminate information that reflects a “corrosive ideology” that is critical of historic Americans or events. National Park Service officials have broadly interpreted that directive to apply to information on racism, sexism, slavery, gay rights or the persecution of Indigenous people...
Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said it’s unprecedented that one visitor’s opinion would result in changes to exhibits that are carefully planned and researched by experts.
“It’s scary that we aren’t trusting the experts and academics who have put together this material and instead we are censoring history and science that is not incorrect and it’s not inaccurate,” Thompson said. “It’s just information that makes people uncomfortable and it’s politically motivated.”
NPCA, the Coalition and other groups are suing the Trump administration over the policy, with a judge dismissing the administration’s motion to dismiss earlier on Thursday."
