As he does one day every month, Reverend Robert Turner went to the road from his home in Baltimore last week and traveled, on foot, 43 miles to Washington.
He arrived at night on April 16 outside the White House, carrying a sign that required “repairs now.”
This time, Turner added another stop on his long travel day: the National Museum of African -American History and Culture.
Turner knelt in prayer and placed a crown of flowers at the entrance of the museum in support of his mission, which incurred the criticism of President Donald Trump along with other sites of the Smithsonian institution. In an executive order on March 27, Trump claimed that Smithsonian’s exhibitions had belittled the history of the nation through a “divisive and race ideology.”
Turner wanted to show support for the museum, which he opened in 2016 and received his 10 million visitors in 2023. The museum tells the history of the slavery of Chattel, the segregation of Jim Crow and its persistent effects, but also highlights the determination, successes and contributions of blacks and black institutions.
“I put my flower crown to show solidarity with the museum and the story that they present every day,” said Turner, pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of the temple of empowerment in Baltimore.
He said his church has committed to become a member of the museum, and encourages church members to do the same. Membership costs begin at $ 25 per year, according to an online form on the museum site.
His church is not alone, since other predominantly black congregations are taking similar measures.
The clergy asks for support
Turner said he had the idea of Reverend Otis Moss III of the Church of Christ of Trinity United in Chicago, whose church also joined the museum and urged members to do the same. “For only $ 25 a year, you can protect black history,” Moss told his church.
Two other black shepherds told Associated Press that they also supported the effort.
One was the Reverend Jacqui J. Lewis, principal minister of the Middle Church in New York City, home of a multi -racial congregation affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
“We belonged to the museum since its opening, and we just made another donation to the light of the policies of this administration,” he told the AP. The gift, he said, was a “Easter love donation” of $ 1,000.
Bishop Timothy Clarke of the first Church of God in Columbus, Ohio, said he would emulate Moss to call his predominantly African -American congregation.
“Our grandson is on a DC on an excursion,” Clarke said in an email. “The highlight of his trip has been the visit to the museum.”
Trump’s order did not speak specifically about budget cuts, although he commissioned Vice President JD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian Regent Board under his office, to lead the effort to purge the “inappropriate ideology” of such institutions. He promised to “restore the Smithsonian institution to its legitimate place as a symbol of American inspiration and greatness.” Critics say they are trying to force a distorted national narrative that overlooks slavery and other historical errors.
Pastor marching for repairs
Turner said he has been making his walk to Washington one day during each of the last 31 months. He is asking for the United States to make repairs for the legacy of slavery, the segregation of Jim Crow and another systemic suffering inflicted on black people, ranging from housing and medical discrimination to mass imprisonment. When he was previously a shepherd in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he similarly demonstrated repairs for the 1921 race massacre.
Turner said that when he arrived last week outside the White House, a multitude of visitors was grinding, and a child who noticed his sign asked a father: “What are repairs?”
“That for me is a perfect manifestation about why we need to teach more true history in the United States, and not take certain subjects because they make people feel uncomfortable,” Turner said.
Moss, in a publication on social networks, was hope that the museum could continue its current course, noting that Vance is just a member of the Board.
Trinity has been socially active with a wide range of community reach, and Moss describes it as “a church that is blatantly black and without Christian apologies.”
Former President Barack Obama had been a member of Trinity, but resigned during the 2008 campaign, citing the “divisive” statements of his previous pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, while affirming the tradition of the black church to speak against injustice.
Democrats criticize the executive order
The African -American Museum, one of the 21 Smithsonian museums, has also seen a recent shaking in leadership. Shanita Beckett, who was previously the head of operations in the museum, has been widely informed that she served as an interim director.
Kevin Young, poet and scholar of African -American history, left his role as director of the museum in early April, after an absence permit, according to a notice to the staff. The museum did not return the requests for comments from the AP this week.
On Friday, the Democrats in the Chamber Administration Committee, which surpassed the Smithsonian institution, expressed concern about the executive order in a letter addressed to Vance.
“This flagrant attempt to erase black history is unacceptable and must stop,” said the letter signed by representatives Joseph Morelle in New York, Terri Sewell of Alabama and Norma Torres de California.
“The role of paper of the elements of American history is both cowardly and antipatriotic,” said the letter.
