In the late 1930s, Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels and his agents compiled a list of artworks they deemed “degenerate” and saw fit to purge. That list — which included works that acknowledged disabled people, that criticized the brutality of war, or interrogated Nazi fascism, or defied established gender roles — arguably offers a disturbing parallel to a new list of Smithsonian museum exhibits targeted by the Trump White House: Trump’s list, released Thursday, includes works that acknowledge disabled people or criticizes American foreign policy, racism or gender norms.
The list is meant to support Trump’s bigoted assertion earlier this week that the Smithsonian museums are too “woke” because they do things like acknowledge the awfulness of slavery. He has ordered his administration to scour the museums in search of content he would deem antithetical to his revanchist vision of America.
Among the items included on Trump’s list are:
- an exhibit at the National Museum of the American Latino featuring “animated Latinos and Latinas with disabilities”
- an art piece by artist Amy Sherald depicting the Statue of Liberty as a Black, trans woman (the artist withdrew her exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery entirely)
- writings by undocumented immigrants
- an art piece at the National Museum of African Art referencing enslaved Black people who were thrown into the sea during the Middle Passage
- exhibits referencing American colonization.
As I’ve written previously, the Trump administration’s targeting of purportedly “woke” exhibits bears clear similarities to the Nazi regime’s confiscation and banning of purportedly “degenerate” art. It’s a comparison that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and liberals like activist Imara Jones have noted, as well. That the White House’s new list echoes an earlier one compiled by Hitler’s Ministry of Propaganda is further evidence.
