By: AP News
As he does once a month, Rev. Robert Turner set out from his home in Baltimore last week and made the 43-mile journey to Wash- ington — on foot.
By the evening of April 16, he had reached the White House, holding a sign that read “Reparations Now.”
This time, Turner made an additional stop along the way: the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Turner knelt in prayer and placed a wreath at the entrance of the museum to show his support for its mission — one that drew criticism from President Donald Trump, who, in a March 27 executive order, accused the Smithsonian of promoting a “divisive, race-centered ideology” that he claimed misrepresented American history.
Turner wanted to affirm the museum’s importance. Since opening in 2016, it welcomed its 10 millionth visitor in 2023. The museum chronicles the history of chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and their ongoing impact, while also celebrating the resilience, achievements, and contributions of Black Americans and institutions.
“I laid my wreath there as a gesture of solidarity — to honor the truth and the history the museum shares daily,” said Turner, pastor of Empowerment Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore.
His congregation has pledged to become a museum member, and Turner is encouraging church members to join as well. Member- ships begin at $25 annually, according to the museum’s website.
They’re not alone — other predominantly Black churches are taking similar steps to show their support.
One supporter is the Rev. Jacqui J. Lewis, senior minister at Middle Church in New York City, a multiracial congregation affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
“We’ve been members of the museum since it opened, and we recently made another donation in response to this administration’s policies,” Lewis told the AP. That donation, she said, was a $1,000 “Easter Love gift.”
Bishop Timothy Clarke of First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio, said he plans to follow the lead of fellow clergy by encourag-
ing support from his mostly African American congregation. “Our grandson is on a field trip in D.C.,” Clarke shared in an email. “His favorite part so far has been the visit to the museum.”
While Trump’s executive order didn’t mention specific funding cuts, it appointed Vice President JD Vance — who sits on the Smithsonian Board of Regents — to lead efforts to remove what the order called “improper ideology” from the institution. Vance has promised to “restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.”
Critics, however, argue that the move aims to rewrite history by downplaying slavery and other painful truths of America’s past.
