New Rule Forces Parks to Flag Any ‘Negative’ Stories About America
All 400 national parks across the United States must now post signs asking visitors to report information that tells negative stories about American history. This sweeping new requirement affects everything from Civil War battlefields to sites connected to slavery and Japanese American imprisonment camps.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued the controversial order as part of President Trump’s executive action called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The goal is to remove any content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)” from parks and monuments.
Fierce criticism
The move has sparked fierce criticism from park protection groups, writes Denver7. The National Parks Conservation Association, which has defended America’s park system for a century, is already working to overturn the decision.
“A lot of our history is difficult to hear, but these are the places where people are educated about many issues in our past, and it’s so important,” said Theresa Pierno, the organization’s president and CEO. She called Burgum’s order “outrageous” and “frightening.”
Pierno raised a troubling question about how this will work in practice: “How do you tell that story accurately, but you can’t describe anything that might negatively impact the history? History is full of good and bad, and mistakes were made. And we try to understand that history so we don’t repeat those mistakes.”
Feedback
The new signs must include this exact message: “(Name of property) belongs to the American people, and (name of land management bureau) wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have identified (1) any areas of the (park/area, etc. as appropriate) that need repair; (2) any services that need improvement; or (3) any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.“
This policy puts park rangers in an impossible position when telling stories about slavery, genocide, or wartime atrocities that happened on the very ground where visitors now stand. With Memorial Day weekend bringing record crowds to national parks, millions of Americans will soon encounter these new reporting requirements firsthand.
