Hannah Rosen

But this year might call for something more radical.

I'm Hannah Rosen.

This is Radio Atlantic.

Here is a missive from President Trump that typifies his attitude about Black history.

Quote, The Smithsonian is, all caps, out of control.

Where everything discussed is how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was, he posted over the summer.

The president has restored Confederate names to Army bases and removed lessons and images about slavery from federally funded institutions.

Just this week, a federal judge ordered the administration to restore panels at what's known as the President's House in Philadelphia that discussed, quote, the dirty business of slavery.

The federal judge wrote, "...an agency cannot arbitrarily decide what is true based on its own whims or the whims of the new leadership."

Today, we talked to two of my Atlantic colleagues, writer and podcast host Adam Harris and staff writer Clint Smith, who's also the author of How the Word is Passed, A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.

Adam, welcome to the show.

Clint, welcome to the show.

So, Clint, as someone who has studied the presentation of history, and specifically Black history, how would you characterize this administration's approach?

And what is that desire about?

Because Adam, Trump talks about wanting monuments to be uplifting, not to cause people shame.

What does that mean?

And that just feels bad?

Yeah, I can see it's disorienting.

I feel like we need to ground this conversation in a few examples.

You started by using the word intensity.