Democrats in Virginia's congressional delegation are calling on the National Park Service to bring back discontinued educational materials. I's the latest fight over how to interpret history.
Here are the sentences at the heart of the debate – "In 1829, Robert E. Lee promised to serve in the Army and protect the United States. In 1861, he broke his promise and fought for slavery." Congressman Don Beyer of Alexandria says removing Junior Ranger activity booklets with that explanation of history is unacceptable.
"So yes, this is just one children's booklet at one Arlington House, above the cemetery," Beyer says. "But it is representative, emblematic of the erasure of history all across this country right now."
Last summer, Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order to remove content that "inappropriately disparages Americans," living or dead. Now, the Arlington House is caught in the crossfire of the latest battle over who owns history, and Senator Mark Warner worries about what's next.
"Are we going to suddenly say there was never slavery in America? Are we going to say there was never a period of Jim Crow? Are we going to say in Virginia we never went through Massive Resistance? It's disrespectful to our history," Warner says. "It's disrespectful to African Americans who were the brunt of a lot of that bias and prejudice."
Democrats in the Virginia delegation are calling on the National Park Service to restore the Junior Ranger activity booklets as soon as possible, hopefully in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in July.
