From slavery to pollution, National Park employees flagged material deemed ‘disparaging’ to US

By DORANY PINEDA Associated Press The Trump administration is reviewing material about slavery the destruction of Native American tradition conditions change and more at federal parks after employees flagged information that could be disparaging to Americans according to screenshots shared with The Associated Press President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March directing the Interior Department which manages parks monuments and other designated land to ensure inhabitants property doesn t contain elements that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living Instead it commented to focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people and the beauty abundance and grandeur of the American landscape Related Articles Bay Area leaders historians rally to protect national parks amid federal cuts Here s what to know if you encounter a snake in the Bay Area Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution Caught on video Bear charges Seattle Kraken mascot during promo shoot in Alaskan river Body of missing woman ascertained in Sequoia National Park after months-long search The National Park Amenity had until July to flag inappropriate signs exhibits and other material according to a document shared with the AP by the National Parks Conservation Association which obtained internal information from an anonymous source within the Interior Department The inhabitants was also encouraged to participate As we carry out this directive we ll be evaluating all signage in the park along with the citizens feedback we ve received disclosed Elizabeth Peace spokesperson for the Interior Department This effort reinforces our commitment to telling the full and accurate story of our nation s past The department stated any signage inconsistent with the executive order will be removed or covered and reinstated once edits are made The administration noted it would remove all inappropriate material by Sept according to The New York Times citing internal agency documents The directive has raised concerns about sanitizing and erasing dark sides of American history Pretending that the bad stuff never happened is not going to make it go away stated Alan Spears a senior director with the National Parks Conservation Association a nonpartisan group separate from the national parks system that advocates for it We need to be able to talk about these things if we re going to have any hope of bringing people together A look at a few of the material that was flagged for review North Carolina Setting change poisoning WHAT S IN DISPUTE A sign titled The Air We Breathe was flagged because it discusses the importance of clean air Waste from human-caused ozone it explains threatens people s strength and vegetation and power plants cars and industries that burn fossil fuels are the pollutant s primary sources In North Carolina s Cape Hatteras National Seashore there are signs about sea level rise due to environment change We do not believe it to be in violation but would like someone to review if messaging of state change and sea level rise reduces the focus on the grandeur beauty and abundance one employee wrote THE BACK STORY Emissions from burning fossil fuels are heating the planet causing ice sheets and glaciers to melt and seawater to expand Rising seas threaten the people and ecosystems that live by the coast THE REACTION Carlos Martinez surroundings scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists thinks the agency should be educating the masses about the threats national parks face These population parks are places to learn about poisoning environment change and environmental degradation he disclosed and eliminating this information limits the ability for our population especially for the younger generation to understand these issues that allow them to then take action South Carolina and Pennsylvania Enslavement of Black people An informational panel is seen at President s House Site Tuesday Aug in Philadelphia AP Photo Matt Rourke National People look an informational panel at President s House Site Tuesday Aug in Philadelphia AP Photo Matt Rourke People walk past an informational panel at President s House Site Tuesday Aug in Philadelphia AP Photo Matt Rourke Show Caption of An informational panel is seen at President s House Site Tuesday Aug in Philadelphia AP Photo Matt Rourke National Expand WHAT S IN DISPUTE At a gift shop in Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in South Carolina marked for review were books for sale including Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs Similar books were flagged elsewhere including at the Washington Monument where someone identified a book discussing George Washington as a slave owner In Pennsylvania s Independence National Historical Park flagged were descriptions of the whipping kidnapping rape and other brutality slaveholders inflicted on Black people At another an employee identified an exhibit about Black Americans escaping to freedom that names slave owners THE BACK STORY The legacy of slavery and racism has laid the foundation for the inequalities Black people face in the U S including greater rates of poverty condition and illness and incarceration at more than five times the rate of white people THE REACTION Slavery is not a side story It s the engine of American economic increase for more than two centuries disclosed Cedric Haynes vice president of procedures and legislative affairs with the NAACP And there are individuals who played a part in this It s vital to name the people who perpetuated slavery s atrocities he stated because that legacy is embedded in American laws institutions and the nation s wealth Alaska and Florida A complex history with Native Americans WHAT S IN DISPUTE At Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska an employee flagged a panel about missionaries who sought to destroy the language and values of Alaska Natives and forcefully remove them from their lands The concerning text says The history of this land includes a series of actions that attempted to remove the Sheet ka Kwaan from their land heritage and language which includes forced relocations under both Russian and American governance In Florida s Castillo de San Marcos National Monument tagged was a panel discussing imprisonment of Plains Indians Text of panel requirements review for language referring to tribes having choice of extinction or assimilation Language of U S Governing body giving the choice of extinction could be considered negative towards the United States they wrote THE BACK STORY The relationship between the United States and Indigenous nations has been fraught violent dispossessive and complex over the centuries and the national parks are part of that story mentioned Jessica R Cattelino American Indian studies professor at the University of California Los Angeles To cut off parts of those stories because they might make someone uncomfortable that s a disservice to the ecological and cultural value of these lands Brenda Child a Red Lake Ojibwe tribe member and American and American Indian studies professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities declared it s only been about two decades since we started telling the accurate history of the United States and Native Americans THE REACTION It s sad to think about efforts to rewrite it now she says at a time when more accurate portrayals of Indigenous history in the U S absolutely exist But the way I unfailingly look at these things is You can try to suppress it but the cat s out of the bag We know what happened The books have been written Florida A slight to Industrial America WHAT S IN DISPUTE Is Florida s Everglades National Park a slight to industrial progress in America Stories of the lands urbanization agriculture and more presented across the park could be conceived as being disparaging to the evolution of Industrial America one employee wrote THE BACK STORY The Everglades is a subtropical wilderness that protects million acres of habitats and biodiversity and is a vital source of drinking water for millions The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes have called these lands home for centuries Decades of urban and farming progress degraded the ecosystem until in the park was established to protect what remained Underway is a massive state-federal project approved by Congress in with bipartisan promotion that aims to undo the damages THE REACTION People committed these harms generations ago without knowing better And we know better now and we cannot lose sight of the lessons learned mentioned Eve Samples executive director of Friends of the Everglades If we don t keep in clear view that history and the mistakes that we made in our past then we are doomed to repeat them The Associated Press receives advocacy from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental procedures The AP is solely responsible for all content For all of AP s environmental coverage visit https apnews com hub climate-and-environment