Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento

That's right. I mean, if we can rewind a little bit, there's been a growing movement in recent years to reflect on what history we honor in the U.S. and what may have been left out. But there was a turning point when a white police officer killed George Floyd, who was black, in 2020. His death sparked wide protests, and for a lot of people, it was a reexamining of this country's racial history.

Within a year and a half, 200 public Confederate symbols had been taken down, relocated, or renamed. That included things like monuments, school names, even road names. Those are numbers provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a legal and advocacy group which tracks Confederate iconography in the US.

Within a year and a half, 200 public Confederate symbols had been taken down, relocated, or renamed. That included things like monuments, school names, even road names. Those are numbers provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a legal and advocacy group which tracks Confederate iconography in the US.

Within a year and a half, 200 public Confederate symbols had been taken down, relocated, or renamed. That included things like monuments, school names, even road names. Those are numbers provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a legal and advocacy group which tracks Confederate iconography in the US.

I should say, the executive order isn't specifically about Confederate symbols, but it instructs the interior secretary to review monuments, markers, and statues that may have been taken down or changed since January 2020, more than a year before Trump left office in his first term, and restore them.

I should say, the executive order isn't specifically about Confederate symbols, but it instructs the interior secretary to review monuments, markers, and statues that may have been taken down or changed since January 2020, more than a year before Trump left office in his first term, and restore them.

I should say, the executive order isn't specifically about Confederate symbols, but it instructs the interior secretary to review monuments, markers, and statues that may have been taken down or changed since January 2020, more than a year before Trump left office in his first term, and restore them.

It calls for a wholesale review to make sure that memorials under interior department jurisdiction, quote, do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living, including persons living in colonial times.

It calls for a wholesale review to make sure that memorials under interior department jurisdiction, quote, do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living, including persons living in colonial times.

It calls for a wholesale review to make sure that memorials under interior department jurisdiction, quote, do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living, including persons living in colonial times.

That's the big question, and it's pretty unclear right now. Seth Levy of the Southern Poverty Law Center says many of the sites that did see changes were on land controlled by municipalities and state governments, not land controlled by the Department of the Interior or any of the bureaus it oversees, like the National Park Service.

That's the big question, and it's pretty unclear right now. Seth Levy of the Southern Poverty Law Center says many of the sites that did see changes were on land controlled by municipalities and state governments, not land controlled by the Department of the Interior or any of the bureaus it oversees, like the National Park Service.

That's the big question, and it's pretty unclear right now. Seth Levy of the Southern Poverty Law Center says many of the sites that did see changes were on land controlled by municipalities and state governments, not land controlled by the Department of the Interior or any of the bureaus it oversees, like the National Park Service.

We reached out to the Department of the Interior and didn't hear back.

We reached out to the Department of the Interior and didn't hear back.

We reached out to the Department of the Interior and didn't hear back.

That's right. I spoke with art historian Erin Thompson. She's the author of a book called Smashing Statues, the Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments. And she says that Trump's executive order is trying to gloss over some of the darker aspects of American history.

That's right. I spoke with art historian Erin Thompson. She's the author of a book called Smashing Statues, the Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments. And she says that Trump's executive order is trying to gloss over some of the darker aspects of American history.

That's right. I spoke with art historian Erin Thompson. She's the author of a book called Smashing Statues, the Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments. And she says that Trump's executive order is trying to gloss over some of the darker aspects of American history.

Thompson says it's important to grapple with mistakes from the past so we don't make them again. But ultimately, you can't control historical memory by controlling monuments.