In just over 100 days, we’ve seen President Donald Trump work overtime to erase every ounce of cultural and racial diversity from our government institutions, including threatening to end funding to the National Museum of African American History. His latest move will impact the world’s largest library, as he fired Dr. Carla D. Hayden – the first African American and the first woman to serve as the head of the Library of Congress – on May 8.
Dr. Hayden was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2016 and had just one year left on her term. But according to the White House, she was just a little too woke for Trump to let her finish the job.
“There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
And while you may not be shocked by anything that comes out of the White House anymore, the news of Dr. Hayden’s firing got lots of backlash from those who are concerned that Trump’s decisions will erase all of the progress people of color have made in this country. Here just a couple of the reasons why Black people should care about Dr. Carla Hayden’s firing.
A Diverse Collection of Information
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with a diverse collection of books, photographs, newspapers and maps from various periods throughout history. We’ve been covering conservative’s increasing attempts to ban books by Black, Latino and LGBTQ authors in schools and libraries for the past several years. Given the chance to appoint his own librarian, President Trump and his supporters could have a greater influence on the diversity of materials available.
“Donald Trump’s unjust decision to fire Dr. Hayden in an email sent by a random political hack is a disgrace and the latest in his ongoing effort to ban books, whitewash American history and turn back the clock,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement.
Keeping Our Legislators in the Loop
While Democrats are currently in the minority in Congress, they are doing everything they can to keep the MAGA movement from completely steamrolling over democracy. But despite what Donald Trump might have you believe, they can’t fight the good fight if their case is not on point.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is an important part of the Library of Congress and a primary source of materials that help keep our elected officials up to date and prepared for any legislative debate. Members of Congress also frequently use the Law Library of Congress which serves as a source of foreign law research.
We can only imagine what a Trump-appointed Librarian of Congress might do control access to this valuable source of information.
