(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Visiting the National Museum of African American History & Culture Yesterday [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-28
Yesterday President Trump signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian museums and particularly targeted the National Museum of African American History & Culture. By happenstance, my family and I visited the museum yesterday (although without hearing about the executive order until today). In the current environment, experiencing the museum impacted me quite differently than it did eight years ago.
The Emmett Till memorial is heartbreaking. The museum curators created a sacred space that honors Till and his family while educating on emotional and intellectual levels. What struck me newly yesterday was that despite the outrage and attention, it was eight more years to the March on Washington and nine more years before the first of the Civil Rights Acts passed. Almost another decade before cities began to elect African American mayors for the first time since reconstruction. It took decades of activism to end slavery. About a century to dismantle Jim Crow. I have been worrying about the damage Trump can do to our system before the ‘26 midterms 20 months from now. I want action now, from myself and like Senator Schumer.
I also want to see evidence of Trumpism beginning to fail. It leaves me scrolling through DailyKos, Substack, The Atlantic and other news sites. I send a letter to the editor of small town newspaper and want to see it in print. I finish writing postcards to Wisconsin voters and am antsy for what’s next. I am like Yuval Abraham in the early moments of No Other Land. In the documentary, Basel Adra criticises Yuval Abraham for being impatient. Basel tells Yuval he has to get used to failure and not expect quick results. Basel learned his activism as a young child watching his parents fight for their land. He acts in the present, knowing that he might have to act day in and day out for years, perhaps decades.
Quite like the activists, educators, and writers pressing for the end of slavery and then for equal rights. Results required collective actions over decades and often longer. Those speaking against injustice acted knowing that not only might they be imprisoned, beaten, or killed on any given day, but that they also might live into old age without winning their fights. On one hand, the suffering and evil endured by so many and still endured is sickening. On the other hand, the persistence and resilience is inspiring. Even if Trump succeeds in destroying American democracy, that doesn’t mean the new kleptocracy can suppress our commitment to be free forever. For me, that removes some of the dread I have sometimes felt over the last two months.
Moreover it lets me think on a longer time horizon. Not just what it will take to, for example, protect the historians and curators of the museum, but to build healthy, thriving communities. To inquire and labor over the coming months, years, and maybe decades to restore a broad consensus on ideals so we can take on the challenges of inequality, climate change, and the threat/opportunity of AI.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/28/2313094/-Visiting-the-National-Museum-of-African-American-History-Culture-Yesterday?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
