The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) stands in full support of the Smithsonian Institution and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and repudiates the report of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council attacking its Director Anthea Hartig and other museum professionals at the Smithsonian for their laudable work to explore the full complexity and diversity of U.S. history.
The administration released the 162-page report “Saving America’s Story” on July 4, part of a year-long effort to undermine public trust in the Smithsonian and other museums and pressure them to present a simplistic, whitewashed view of American history. The report claims that the Smithsonian “has not met its obligations to the American people” and accuses the National Museum of American History of “anti-white” activism.
While the report’s authors purport that the museum should include a broader history and discuss grave injustices such as slavery, in reality the report reads as a list of grievances where every label with a factual statement about Native American lands, Jim Crow laws, women’s suffrage, immigration, and LGBTQ+ identities is cited as evidence of “ideological” bias.
JANM, a Smithsonian affiliate, is proud to have partnered with the Smithsonian on “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past” — a program criticized by the Domestic Policy Council report — in 2023, and related efforts by the Smithsonian under Secretary Lonnie Bunch to envision a broader, inclusive view of the U.S. at 250, including “Civic Season,” “Youth 250,” and the lecture series “Making History, Making Change.”
“Museums must be places of truth, not propaganda — spaces where the next generation can confront the complexity of our nation’s injustices, mistakes, and darkest chapters; where empathy, social responsibility, and the courage to defend democracy are nurtured,” said Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of JANM and the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. “There is a reason why museums are among the most trusted institutions, and it is because of the work of historians and professionals like those at the Smithsonian.
“Dr. Anthea Hartig, the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a governor of JANM, embodies the very best of our profession. Dr. Hartig, Secretary Lonnie Bunch, and their colleagues across the Smithsonian Institution have set the highest standard of excellence in preserving and interpreting our shared history.
“We stand behind them in full support. Efforts to erase, censor, or politicize that history undermine not only museums, but the democratic values they exist to protect. History does not yield to censorship, and neither should we.”