The bar is low, but Trump slithers under it
They may be coming for just the signs, but the message is clear: let’s rewrite history while ignoring science. The disappointments of this administration just never stop piling up.
A leaked memo from the Department of the Interior contained a list of markers and educational signage at national parks that this administration may have a problem with.
After all, the president’s order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” calls for the department to review their signage, and “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”
Does anyone know what all that gobbledygook is supposed to mean? It sounds more like the dimwitted meanderings of some blowhard than actual government policy.
Ten of those signs that may be removed — or altered to reflect this administration’s political views — are here in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. One that was flagged provides information about the Trail of Tears and the forced removal of the Cherokee people from their lands in this region.
When I read about the flagged signs, I started thinking of those Eastern Band members who The Smoky Mountain News talked to just a few weeks ago who are training to ride 950 miles on a bicycle in an event called Remember the Removal. Many of those taking part say the ride is a way to stay connected to a heritage in which they take great pride. The ride to commemorate the removal starts in early June.
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EBCI member Sara Ferguson has learned of ancestors that were a part of — and ancestors that resisted — the Trail of Tears removal. She has ancestors who moved out West and ancestors that returned.
“I’ve learned that I was just obviously distantly related to Yonaguska, who was part of one of the removals, of one of the detachments that went out West and then came back to the boundary. I have Tsali somewhere in my line.”
As she trains for this ride, signs along the Parkway describing the horror of the Trail of Tears are in danger of just going away as the Trump administration embraces a fundamentally wrong version of U.S. history. The U.S. is indeed a great country, but far from perfect. You teach your kids to become better people by owning up to mistakes and shortcomings and learning from them. In Trump’s world, we just erase them and act like they never happened.
And then there are the signs that discuss pollution and climate change. According to Blue Ridge Public Radio, a marker titled “Blue, Like Smoke” that addresses the history of the park’s name (Smoky) and ongoing issues about visibility and vehicle emissions is also on the flagged list. Wordage on the sign includes this: “Air pollution’s impact goes far beyond obscuring the view. Many plant and animal species in the Smokies suffer from the effects of acid precipitation and high amounts of ground-level ozone. What does the future hold? We don’t know.”
The science is clear about ozone and its effect on health and visibility. But no, why have informational signs that explain to people why they can only see clearly for three or four miles when in the past their views extended for 50 miles? Why try to explain the difference between the mountain’s normal blue haze and what is caused by manmade pollutants?
Perhaps all of this is just more bluster and none of the wayfaring plaques and informational kiosks will be changed. But the fact that the list does indeed exist is evidence enough of how low this administration has sunk. Outrageous.
(Scott McLeod is the editor and publisher of The Smoky Mountain News. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
