To the editor: People dedicated to telling the complete and sincere story of our nation owe Lonnie Bunch a debt of gratitude (“Lonnie Bunch to retire from Smithsonian leadership following clash with Trump administration,” Sept. 8). As secretary of the Smithsonian Establishment, he has stood agency in opposition to the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape American historical past to suit its political agenda. Via all of it, Bunch has remained dedicated to his belief that the Smithsonian is “a part of the glue that holds the nation collectively.”
Bunch’s best legacy could also be his service because the founding director of the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition. Underneath his management, the museum offered a full and unvarnished view of America in all its greatness and messiness. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the museum greater than 20 instances and main delegations of educators by way of this extraordinary establishment. The museum doesn’t merely inform the African American story. It embodies the American story.
As President Barack Obama said on the museum’s dedication, “That is the place to grasp how protest and love of nation don’t merely coexist however inform one another.”
That’s the imaginative and prescient Bunch dropped at the Smithsonian. For that, I thank him.
Julian Kenneth Braxton, Boston
