“I’m just following my orders.”
At the President’s House site in Philadelphia, the memorial marking the nine people George Washington enslaved while living there, National Park Service staff dismantled and removed the slavery exhibits on Thursday, January 22, 2026, loading the panels into a Park Service truck. When asked why, one worker repeated: “I’m just following my orders.”
This is the failure mode that should worry everyone regardless of party: history gets treated like a compliance problem, and “compliance” gets defined by whether the material “disparages” America. That standard isn’t a standard. It's a feelings-based filter with the power to erase.”. And once you’re using that filter, anything honest about slavery, displacement, or state violence becomes “inappropriate,” because it makes the myth feel bad.
Here’s the machinery, in plain English: Broad directive (“review content that ‘disparages’ Americans”) → local staff flagged panels → removal happens without a clear, public rationale. Process gets inverted: instead of “prove it’s inaccurate,” it becomes “prove it’s allowed.” Education becomes optional right when the country is heading into the 250th anniversary (July 4, 2026) spotlight.
Philadelphia is now suing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the acting NPS director, arguing the takedown was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated a 2006 cooperative agreement requiring consultation before changes.
What I’m not claiming: “this proves America is collapsing tomorrow.”
What I am claiming: if the goal is civic trust + public education, you build transparent standards and due-process for interpretation changes, not executive-order driven removals.
What would change my mind: a public, written justification tied to a clear standard (accuracy, provenance, safety), not “too negative.”
If you were writing the rule, what should the threshold be for removing historical interpretation at a national site?
⸻
Sources: