{"id":755,"date":"2026-06-19T11:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=755"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:32:07","slug":"court-filings-reveal-extent-of-censorship-in-nations-national-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=755","title":{"rendered":"Court filings reveal extent of censorship in nation\u2019s national parks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration removed more than 50 exhibits from dozens of national park sites as part of its attempt to sanitize the portrayal of American history, according to a new, court-ordered inventory provided by the National Park Service. Although 16 of the exhibits have already been \u201cdiscarded,\u201d according to the court document, a federal judge is now mandating that the Interior Department reinstate all removed exhibits ahead of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>

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\u201cThe court ruling made us all feel just a little bit more sane because it reinforces what we\u2019ve been feeling all along, that you can\u2019t pick and choose history,\u201d Elizabeth Villano, a member of the advocacy group Resistance Rangers, told SFGATE. \u201cWe\u2019re happy with the decision, but it doesn\u2019t mean the work is done. Censorship is still the de facto standing order.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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In March 2025, President Donald Trump signed an\u00a0executive order\u00a0aimed at \u201crestoring truth and sanity to American history,\u201d in which the president claimed that a revisionist movement was seeking to \u201cundermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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The order was later reissued by U.S. Interior Secretary Doug\u00a0Burgum, adopting aspects of the directive as official policy for the agencies under his purview, including the National Park Service. In the order, Burgum gave park officials 90 days to review all public-facing information \u2014 including interpretive signs, exhibits, films, books, Junior Ranger handbooks and other written materials \u2014 and identify any information that \u201cinappropriately disparages Americans past or living\u201d or \u201cemphasizes matters unrelated to the beauty, abundance, or grandeur\u201d of the landscape.<\/p><\/div>

The response to this request was swift and largely negative. An anonymous employee leaked a spreadsheet of more than 500 items flagged during the review, which mostly targeted references to slavery, the forced displacement of Indigenous peoples, and climate change (although it sometimes veered into far more bizarre territory, such as signs warning about nude sunbathers in Florida). An accompanying reporting system for park visitors was flooded with more than 35,000 public comments, most of which disparaged the review process.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cIt is totally unAmerican to ask our fellow citizens to report on each other for anything that might not be glowingly laudatory toward our nation\u2019s history or current leadership,\u201d one comment read. \u201cThis is a sad parody of what the USA stands for, and makes it look like our country is led by a bunch of delicate snowflakes that can\u2019t stand the idea of anyone suggesting we are anything but totally perfect.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

A coalition of conservation, history and science advocacy groups quickly sued the Interior Department to\u00a0challenge its enforcement of the order, while another lawsuit compelled officials to release internal records detailing how the administration developed the order.<\/p><\/div>

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On June 12, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Interior to pause any further enforcement and replace any materials already removed. In , U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts noted that the administration was attempting \u201cto rewrite the Nation\u2019s history with a white-out pen,\u201d before adding that \u201chistory cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

As part of the ruling, the court requested a list of materials that have already been removed. The spreadsheet, viewed by SFGATE, includes dozens of items across 37 national park sites. In the court filing, a National Park Service official noted that \u200bthe inventory \u2060likely undercounts the true number of removals.<\/p>

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Among the flagged items is the first resource removed following the order: a contentious exhibit in Muir Woods National Monument called \u201cHistory Under Construction,\u201d flagged because it featured amended sections acknowledging the roles of Indigenous people, women, and racism in the park\u2019s history. A sign detailing the massacre of Indigenous people by early settlers in Grand Teton National Park was listed as \u201cdiscarded,\u201d leaving questions as to how it will be replaced.<\/p><\/div>

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The judge required that all materials be reinstated by July 3 \u2014 just a day before the kickoff of a nationwide celebration of the country\u2019s 250th anniversary \u2014 and that the administration provide weekly progress updates. This week, the Interior Department and the National Park Service filed an appeal seeking to halt the reinstatement deadline, in part over the logistics of completing the task in such a short timeframe.<\/p><\/div>

Many items were listed on the spreadsheet as \u201cdiscarded,\u201d meaning they may need to be remade from scratch, while other signs have been placed in storage or remain unaccounted for. Because final interpretive products are considered permanent records, they\u2019re subject to federal laws that require their preservation. Some removed resources, including Junior Ranger handbooks and other brochures, can still be accessed through sites like www.npshistory.com.<\/p><\/div>

Following the ruling, Resistance Rangers released an open letter to Burgum urging him to comply with the preliminary injunction and begin restoring trust in the Park Service.<\/p><\/div>

\u201cSome of what you broke can be fixed with a storage key and a Tuesday afternoon. The rest will take years of reinvestment \u2013\u2013 if it can be repaired at all,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cThe question isn\u2019t whether you know what to do. It\u2019s whether you\u2019ll do it before history \u2014 which, as it turns out, is kind of our specialty \u2014 remembers that you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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