Employees of the National Archives tell the Wall Street Journal that they’ve been instructed to remove photos that put the United States in a negative light.
Among the photos said to be removed are some of those taken by famed photographer Dorothea Lange of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
In a statement sent to AsAmNews, the Japanese American Citizens League wrote “JACL expresses its concern that the National Archives is pursuing a policy of erasing Japanese American and other histories from the public record. The National Archives, of all places, has a profound responsibility to the unadulterated preservation of the full history of the United States of America.”
The employees point a finger at U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan, Art News reported. She joined the staff in May of last year and has reportedly ordered certain photographs removed of other topics ranging from the treatment of Native Americans to civil rights, including images of Martin Luther King.
A spokesperson for Shogan said she is trying to make the exhibitions more relatable to the general public while being inclusive.
Employees say she expressed concerns Republicans might be offended by some of the exhibitions.
“Visitors shouldn’t feel confronted, they should feel welcomed,” a senior official reportedly told employees who spoke without attribution to the Journal.
The JACL statement took direct aim at Shogan.
“Archivist Shogan is now demonstrating a similar failure in leadership to that of our leaders during WWII,” the statement read, a reference to the 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II without due process or charges even being filed.
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