A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore signs related to topics such as climate change, slavery and Indigenous and LGBTQ+ history that were removed under an executive order to purge language at national parks that allegedly cast America in a negative light. <\/p>\n
The order has prompted the removal of mentions of President Washington\u2019s slaves at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, signs regarding climate threats at Fort Sumter in South Carolina and a pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, according to the lawsuit challenging the action. <\/p>\n
In California, language related to the internment of Japanese Americans<\/a> at the Manzanar National Historic Site, as well as the history of Indigenous people in Death Valley<\/a> and Muir Woods<\/a> came under scrutiny. <\/p>\n A preliminary injunction was issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston, who sided with a coalition of<\/a> conservation and historical groups and ordered all language removed under the order to be reinstated before the Fourth of July. Earlier this year, another federal judge ordered<\/a> the signage related to Washington\u2019s slaves restored. <\/p>\n In Friday\u2019s injunction, Kelley accused the Trump administration of seeking \u201cto rewrite the Nation\u2019s history with a white-out pen,\u201d and said that national parks play an important role in telling the multifaceted history of America, including \u201cthe good, the bad, and the ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Defendants deemed it important to strip the parks of these undeniable truths in anticipation of the 250th Anniversary of our great Nation,\u201d she wrote, \u201cit is equally important that our shared history be honestly told and fully restored by the 250th Anniversary to properly honor the remarkable achievements of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior dismissed the ruling as the work of a \u201cliberal activist judge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department will look at our appeal options while we celebrate UFC Freedom 250<\/a> on the South Lawn of the White House this weekend in honor of our nation\u2019s 250th with the greatest president in the history of our country \u2014 President Donald J. Trump,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n