America’s Erasure of Inconvenient Truths, and Its Connection to Art’s Repatriation Debate

On March 27, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14253  titled, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Detailed in this order is an objective to “restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.” The messaging here is clear: the American image is that of glory and exceptionalism, and nothing less. 

This fabrication of a particular identity is not unfamiliar. Like the British historical practice of stealing art and reversing its origin to manufacture a certain national identity, America today faces the same attempts at constructing a curated national narrative; the difference lies in the method in which they each advance this aim. 

Britain’s historic argument against repatriation and its roots in western exceptionalism

In 2023, the British Museum became a topic of extreme debate when nearly 2,000 items from the museum collection were “missing, stolen, or damaged” according to investigation by the UK police. This fueled intense criticism in the face of the British Museum’s historic argument that implied countries where artifacts originated from would be incapable of properly caring for them. The British Parliament and the British Museum alike have often emphasized their position as a kind of “guardian” of the world’s heritage. 

Despite the backlash the British Museum faced, they continue to withhold artwork that originates from  different countries, even with calls directly coming from those countries for a return of their rightful artifacts. The Rosetta Stone, perhaps the most famous work containing the Ancient Egyptian language, is yet to return to Egypt despite calls for its return. As Monica Hanna, the dean of Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, puts it, “The British Museum’s holding of the stone is a symbol of Western cultural violence against Egypt.” 

The British Museum uses much of the same justification as they have in the past, claiming that it is essential and beneficial for people to have one, universal museum to represent the world’s history. Underlying this justification, however, is a time-honored trend which exposes an imperialist mindset to frame their nation as exceptional above all. Refusing to repatriate stolen artifacts only serves to validate Britain’s history of colonial looting, and does nothing to advance the aims of systemic decolonization. Despite the British Museum’s claims to be  a museum “of the world, for the world,” its consistent denial of the repatriation debate has proven futile in patching the deep-seaded scars left by colonialism. 

The current Administration’s argument for regulating art and its ties to American exceptionalism 

The first line of Executive Order 14253 claims that “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” Ironically, many Americans view President Trump’s moves to regulate the Smithsonian Museums as exactly what the order claims the Museums are doing. Filtering out exhibitions and artwork that frames America in a “negative light” is a highly subjective process that allows much room for promoting a strategic agenda. 

Kate Masur, professor of history at Northwestern University noted that the Trump Administration’s imagery “is an oversimplified version of American history that seeks to erase conflict. It seeks to erase things like slavery. It seeks to erase divisions among Americans, when one of the most central features of American history is the fact that there was a Civil War in the middle of the 19th century.” In response to President Trump’s Executive Order, historians and citizens organized to archive the Smithsonian museums before they were altered, having “Citizen Historians” go room to room to document existing exhibits. 

Like the British Museum and their attempts to erase the colonial roots inherent in many of its artworks, the Trump Administration looks to erase the inconvenient roots of our nation through regulating museum exhibitions. 

The erasure of inconvenient truths in both Britain and America 

In both Britain and the US, the government seeks to control public perception and curate a convenient national identity through the regulation of art and culture. While Britain chooses to deny the legitimacy of outside countries’ claims to their original artifacts in order to conveniently maintain their image of a pioneer of world heritage, America chooses to filter the truths of an inconvenient past to promote an identity of “greatness.” 

In Britain, America, and museums all across the world, it is important to acknowledge the distinction between colonialism and museum coloniality. It is one thing to discuss a country’s history as a colonial power in the global context. It is an entirely distinct thing to unravel how this often violent power provided the means by which countries obtained their artifacts. Both the current Administration’s push to regulate the African American Smithsonian Museum and the British Museum’s hold on global artifacts without further responsibility exemplify their attempts to erase important context to why and how these museums came to be the way they are today. 

Today, we face consequences far beyond simply losing a few art pieces from a museum exhibit. 

The possibility of cultural and historical erasure is becoming more and more of a reality.  Art has great implications on how we understand and view the cultures of our world, and learning the context behind the systems that we live amongst are essential to repairing the inequities that existed and continue to exist. 

Having a true representation of art and culture without an ulterior motive to create a national image of superiority or exceptionalism. We must identify these false goals and acknowledge that manipulating art and culture to produce a certain persona is an injustice to the rich and diverse range of cultures that have come before us.

Image Source: AP News