Republican Indiana Sen. Jim Banks sent a letter to the National Park Service (NPS) on Tuesday questioning whether the agency is complying with President Donald Trump’s demands to avoid “ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives” in U.S. parks and monuments.
Banks’ letter shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation — which was addressed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and NPS Acting Director Jessica Bowron — comes after Trump unveiled an executive order in March to “restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage.” Banks claimed in the letter that the NPS is “undermining the president’s executive order” despite “clear instructions.”
“Our monuments should celebrate our founders and tell the story of what makes America great, not push woke talking points to please radical activists,” Banks told the DCNF in an exclusive statement.
Banks wrote in the letter that several NPS projects “appear to violate” Trump’s executive order and thus “disparage our nation’s heroes.” The Indiana Republican wrote further that the president’s executive order “rightfully opposes a decades-long effort by our institutions to usurp American history with an ideology-based narrative that casts America’s founding and history in a negative light.”
The senator added that “despite these clear instructions, NPS is apparently moving forward with projects to inject left-wing ideology onto the National Mall, undermining the President’s executive order.”
The NPS has promoted a variety of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and “environmental justice” initiatives in recent years, including leading a push to “tell a more inclusive history” at national parks.
Also in his letter, Banks demanded answers on several topics, including what changes the NPS has made to planned renovations or new projects based on Trump’s executive order and asking to confirm what steps the agency has taken to ensure that it is not funding projects “at odds with” the aforementioned executive order.
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