WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – U.S. officials this month ordered national parks to remove dozens of signs and displays related to the mistreatment of Native Americans by settlers, as well as about climate change and environmental protection, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The move is part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to reshape public spaces and museums in a way that rights advocates say could undo decades of social progress. The National Park Service staff last week removed an exhibit on slavery from a Philadelphia historic site in line with Trump’s claims, rejected by civil rights groups, of “anti-American ideology” at historical and cultural institutions.
The Post reported, citing documents, that Trump administration officials ordered this month that signs in at least 17 additional parks be removed or edited, including at the Grand Canyon, Glacier, Big Bend and Zion.
The removal orders include a display at the Grand Canyon about the forced removal of Native Americans, the Post reported, while at Glacier National Park, Trump administration officials flagged a brochure and a sign about climate change.
The U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, said in a statement that it was carrying out Trump’s executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
“All federal agencies are to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values. Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking appropriate action in accordance with the Order,” it said.
The department said in September that all interpretive signage in national parks was under review. Interpretive signs in national parks and other areas provide written and visual information about their history and cultural heritage.
Civil rights groups say the Trump administration is rolling back social progress and undermining the acknowledgment of critical phases of American history.
The Republican president alarmed civil rights advocates last year with an executive order that said he was fighting against “a false revision of history”. He has complained about what he casts as excessive focus on “how bad Slavery was.”
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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