Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch doesn't want Americans to be afraid of their country's history, saying the nation becomes better by telling the full, complicated story.
"Americans are an amazingly brave people. They have fought wars. They have overcome depression," he told PBS News' Geoff Bennett. "I want Americans not to be afraid of their own history, to basically recognize that, by telling the fullness — and some of this is great stories of important leaders, and some of it is challenges we have to face, and some of it is challenges we have overcome — I think that makes you better as a nation, as a people."
His comments come as the institution faces pressure from the Trump administration over how to tell the American story.
Bunch, the Smithsonian’s first Black secretary, announced Tuesday that he is stepping down at the end of the year.
He sat down with @GeoffRBennett last week to discuss the political pressure he's faced, what's at stake for the Smithsonian and more. For the full interview:
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