Before the sunrise in Baltimore on Friday, Reverend Robert Turner, the prominent priest in the Temple of Empowerment, set out on walking 43 miles from its church to the Smithsonian National Museum of American -African History and Culture at the National Commercial Center in Washington, DC,
Turner, who made the journey from Baltimore to the capital to more than 30 times to call for compensation for blacks throughout America due to the consequences of slavery, the 14 -hour journey this week to protest what he says is an attempt by the Trump administration to erase the important American history. For him, the future of the museum he and many other blacks deserves with the love of “Blacksonian” worth every step.
“If you do not know the horror that we have gone through, hell, you may not see the need to repair,” Terner said. “It is important for President Trump to know this issue of saving Blackson and the issue of America’s reform, and creating a culture of reform is very important to save America’s spirit.”
Context: The artifacts dating back contracts related to slavery and civil rights revolve from exhibitions in the museum where a possible review of the White House waved on the horizon.
In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order partially calling for the museum to remove any opponent.I divide the Americans on the basis of race“But now, the White House says it is not involved in any changes in the museum, while the Democrats in Congress show the alert, and they sign a speech and Entering legislation to protect civil rights features.
NBC News went inside the museum and found at least 32 artifacts that were displayed once.
It includes the Harrite Tobman Hymtle Book full of Gospels that are believed to be caught as it leads the slave people to freedom through the underground railway, as well as a piece of cloth made by slave people and a picture of the general enemy of the hip -hop group.
It has also been removed, “Listing the Life of Friedrich Douglas”, one of the most important leaders in the cancellation movement. Both elements were talented to Smithsonian.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Halligan said: “The White House had no participation in removing any exhibition from the National Museum of American African History and Culture or any other Smithsonian Foundation. They did so on their own.”
The museum pushed to criticism, saying that it Website “The allegations that things have been removed for reasons other than adherence to standard loan agreements or wrong museum practices.” It was also included 11 new artifacts are shown later this monthIncluding a picture that focused on how a mass imprisonment affects blacks, a painting depicting the character of the Ko Clox Klean, and the artworks devoted to Emit Tel, a 14 -year -old black boy from Chicago killed by egg men in 1955 while visiting the family in Mississippi after accusing the teenager of trying to overcome a white woman.
In an email to NBC News, the museum reiterated that rotating things are normal.
But Turner is not convinced. He said: “We now have to say enough, and America is better than this, in black and white.” “We are stronger than this. If our children can bear the death, then white children can carry the semester that knows that America was getting used to children.”
Liz Brazleton, the owner of the 12 -year -old Oscar -winning movie, is also not convinced. She is the granddaughter of the great lawyer who helped liberate Suleiman Northvis, a free black man who was kidnapped and forced to slavery.
“I grew up with the diaries,” said Brazleton. “The most important thing in his diaries was the fact that he helped liberate this man who was a free man. It is just a great story. In the middle of Louisiana, it is a very prominent story. I am very proud of it.”
One of her great diary gave her museum in September 2015 a 10 -year loan. The museum sent it a letter in March, before the end of the semester, saying: “We decided to move forward with the return early until it coincides with our internal rotation schedule.”
The message was sent two weeks before Trump signed the executive order targeting the exhibitions in Smithsonian, which raised the red flag of Brazilton.
She said: “When I saw the executive matter, I wondered whether they knew that something would happen and they rotated it early because it was about slavery, this entire exhibition.”
Smithsonian rejected NBC News for an interview. However, it was repeated in an email that the daily movement was a tall rotation “to allow the necessary comfort after the extended period.”
Brazleton said that she had never told between 2016 and 2025 that her family’s notes had been removed from the exhibition or spinning. She believes that she remained in the exhibition until recently.
Loving the priest Amos C. Brown, the prominent priest and the Commander of Civil Rights, two of his books to the museum when it was opened in 2016. The elements included the Bible, his father, who is more than 100 years old, and brought him during protests with Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, in addition to a book on the history of blacks written in the eighties.
“I was feeling that through this museum, America will see me, you will see black,” said Brown. “We were with the architects and the designers of great things … … We took negative and transformed them into positive, and we tell the story of how people have achieved great things despite persecution, despite those evil things that were done to us, this is what this museum represents.”
Earlier this year, Smithsonian sent him an e -mail saying he will repeat his books. The museum is called “Standard practice“Adding that the loan ended in May. However, Brown called this interpretation an excuse, pointing to NBC news that the museum has always chosen the loan renewal so far.
He said about the decision to end the loan.
After his general reaction, the museum offered to keep books permanently, according to a letter reviewed by NBC News.
The widespread controversy has become increasingly political. Democrats in the House of Representatives are demanding Vice President JD Vance, who is now sitting at the Board of Directors of the National Museum of American African History and Culture, not steps to reform the museum. In a message, legislators said: “This flagrant attempt to erase black history is unacceptable and must be stopped.”
Representative Terry Cyoil, a democratic in Alabama, was sitting in the House of Representatives Committee, which is supervising the Smithsonian Foundation, among the legislators who signed the message. “The narration of the truth means sharing good and bad. If we do not tell our stories, who will tell our stories?” She said.
Meanwhile, Turner plans to continue making the monthly pilgrimage for hours from Baltimore to Washington, DC, to highlight the brighter lights on the artifacts of the museum that is withdrawn from the displays and demand compensation for blacks throughout the country.
“Our story cannot die, regardless of those in the White House,” he said.
