In its list of Smithsonian content that it found objectionable, the Trump administration included a onetime exhibit at the National Museum of the American Latino that depicted migrants watching Fourth of July fireworks through an opening in the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The museum is on the first floor of the National Museum of American History.
At the American History Museum on this year’s Independence Day, visitors gathered around a large papier-mâché sculpture by Kat Rodriguez that depicts the Statue of Liberty holding a tomato in her right hand and a basket of tomatoes in her left. The work, which the Trump administration also objected to, symbolizes “the vital contribution of the often invisible farmworker in the U.S.,” as the Smithsonian describes it.
Arlinda Williams and her 12-year-old daughter, who live in Somerset, N.J., immediately picked up on the theme.
“We need more of it,” said Williams, who works in human resources.
She went on: “Our young people that are Black, or even immigrants that come from other countries, need to be able to see themselves. They need to be able to express themselves in art forms and see those pieces displayed.”
Nearby, Tracy Maruska, a 57-year-old retiree from Phoenix, paused to consider the meaning of “American.”
“Everybody that lives here,” she said, “should be able to be American.”