This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman.

President Trump said Tuesday, the Smithsonian Institution was too narrowly focused on negative

aspects of U.S. history, including, quote, how bad slavery was, unquote.

Trump's social media posts minimizing the horrors of chattel slavery

came after the White House ordered a far-reaching review of Smithsonian Museum exhibitions in order to

ensure they align with Trump's interpretation of U.S. history. In July, the Smithsonian's National

Museum of American History removed references to President Trump's

two impeachments from an exhibit. The Washington Post reports the change occurred during a content

review done under pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director. The references

were restored earlier this month, though with changes to the prior text. In a letter to the

Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch,

the White House writes that first museums to be reviewed would include the National Museums

of American History, of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American

Indian, among several others. Well, in early 2020, just before the pandemic, I had the opportunity

to sit down with Lonnie Bunch at Bus Boys and Poets in Washington, D.C. on the occasion of his

release of his new book of Fool's Errant, creating the National Museum of African American

history and culture in the age of Bush Obama and Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you

the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian.

Miracles do happen.

So, how does it feel Lonnie Bunch the third?

To be the first African American head of the Smithsonian and the first historian leading the Smithsonian.

I think that for me, being the head of the Smithsonian

...