President Trump – PHL Watchdog

Kennedy Center’s Black History Month Goes Dark

For the first time in decades, there are no Black History Month events at the Kennedy Center. The Washington Post reported:

As the calendar turns to February, many museums and cultural centers across the country are readying their programming for Black History Month. At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, however, the online calendar lists no scheduled events to honor Black History Month, following artist relocations and cancellations.

In the past, the national center for the arts has offered an array of programming keyed to the month-long celebration of Black history, including an annual concert and tributes to African American icons, such as D.C. native Duke Ellington. But the choirs that long performed those concerts moved their performances to other venues after President Donald Trump took over the Kennedy Center by purging its board of trustees last year, and it appears no other thematic programming was added in those events’ stead.

The sound of cancellations is music to my ears.

In a social media post on the first day of Black History Month, Trump, chairman of the Kennedy Center, proposed closing the storied venue for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding” for two years, starting on July 4, 2026.

I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “In other words, if we don’t close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruptions with Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer. The temporary closure will produce a much faster and higher quality result!

Chairman Trump said the proposal is subject to the approval of his board of ~~trustees~~ sycophants. Closing the Kennedy Center is a transparent way to save further embarrassment from cancellations, plummeting ticket sales, small pool of potential Kennedy Center honorees, and even lower viewership for the Kennedy Center Honors CBS broadcast.

Under Trump’s chairmanship, ain’t nothing going on at the Kennedy Center but chaos and the rent.

Black History Month 2026

Dr. Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week in 1926 to honor African American contributions that were “overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them.” February was chosen because Black Americans already celebrated the birthdays of the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and the Great Orator Frederick Douglass (February 14).

Black History Month was first nationally recognized 50 years ago by President Gerald R. Ford who on February 10, 1976 issued a Message on the Observance of Black History Month:

One hundred years ago, to help highlight these achievements, Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. We are grateful to him today for his initiative, and we are richer for the work of his organization.

Freedom and the recognition of individual rights are what our Revolution was all about. They were ideals that inspired our fight for Independence: ideals that we have been striving to live up to ever since. Yet it took many years before these ideals became a reality for black citizens.

Fifty years later, President Donald Trump is sending a different message. Trump aggregates unto himself the authority to overlook, ignore and suppress Black history, and whitewash “what our Revolution was all about.”

Without notice to the City of Philadelphia, the National Park Service dismantled the President’s House Site which opened on December 15, 2010 after years of cooperation between the Park Service, the City and the public.

On the eve of Black History Month, a hearing was held (here and here) in federal district court on the City’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the suppression of the history of slavery. The City wants Judge Cynthia M. Rufe to order the Defendants to restore the President’s House Site to its status as of January 21, 2026.

The Defendants claim “the National Park Service is the sole decision maker as to what is exhibited on its property.” They claim that President Trump has absolute authority to order the signs removed. The “administration issued the executive order that resulted in this action… The government gets to choose the message it wants to convey.”

Judge Rufe said “that’s a dangerous statement. That’s horrifying to listen to. [History] changes on the whim of someone in charge? Sorry. That’s not what we elected anybody for.”

Judge Rufe plans to inspect the displays removed from the President’s House. She also will visit the site. When she does, she will see the Park Service cleared the snow on Independence Mall and left the President’s House Site covered in snow and ice.

Judge Rufe is likely to issue her ruling in March 2026.

In the meantime, I spent the first day of Black History Month at the President’s House Site. I posted the “runaway slave” ad that Frederick Kitt, steward of the presidential household, placed in the Philadelphia Gazette & Universal Daily Advertiser offering a ten-dollar reward for the return of Oney Judge who “absconded from the household of the President of the United States.”

It was heartwarming to see the steady stream of visitors in the bitter cold and the creative forms of resistance.

As soon as the weather breaks, I plan to reserve People’s Plaza, the public square near the President’s House Site where protesting is allowed. I will set up my boombox and play protest songs. I expect the Park Service will “say my music’s too loud.”

UPDATE: On February 2, 2026, Judge Cynthia M. Rufe conducted a visual inspection of the signs removed from the President’s House Site by the National Park Service. Thirty-four panels were removed, some of which “exhibited damage.” The panels are stored in a secure location at the National Constitution Center.

“The government is ORDERED to continue to securely store all removed panels and to mitigate any further deterioration or damage.”

With respect to the Memorial, the enclosed space near the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center that is in the footprint of President Washington’s slave quarters, “no further removal and/or destruction of the President’s House site will be permitted until further order of the Court.”

Philadelphia Sues Over Removal of Slavery Exhibit

President Trump likely has not read George Orwell who warned us: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Trump wants to control the American narrative. So on his directive, the National Park Service is acting like it’s 1984.

On January 22, 2026 – without notice to the City of Philadelphia – the National Park Service unilaterally removed artwork and interpretive panels from the President’s House Site that “tells the story of the paradox of liberty and enslavement in one home – and in a nation.” The story reflects decades of scholarly research about the nine enslaved Africans who were brought by President George Washington from Mount Vernon to work in the executive mansion.

The panels and artwork were unceremoniously tossed in the back of a pickup truck and taken to a “secure location.”

Before the signs were unloaded in the still undisclosed “secure location,” the City of Philadelphia filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The City contends that the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service violated a 2006 cooperative agreement that “through a series of amendments, detailed the design of the President’s House Project as well as the rights and responsibilities of the parties.” According to the complaint, “the City has an equal right with the NPS under these agreements to approve the final design of the President’s House Project.”

The City asks the Court to declare that the Defendants’ removal of the artwork and interpretive signs violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The City argues the Defendants “have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one.”

The City maintains “there is no statutory or other authority for the Secretary to remove and destroy [National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom] sites after designation and doing so runs counter to the express purpose of the Administrative Procedure Act.”

The bottom line: The City seeks “An order restoring the President’s House Site to its status as of January 21, 2026.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro posted on X that “Donald Trump will take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history. But he picked the wrong city — and he sure as hell picked the wrong Commonwealth. We learn from our history in Pennsylvania, even when it’s painful.”

Shapiro said he will file an amicus brief in support of the City’s lawsuit.

Facts are stubborn things. On May 23, 1796, Frederick Kitt, steward of the presidential household, placed an ad in the Philadelphia Gazette and Universal Daily Advertiser offering a ten dollar reward “to any person who will bring [Oney Judge] home. Oney “ABSCONDED from the household of the President of the United States” on May 21, 1796.

The National Park Service designated the President’s House a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site in 2022.

Trump’s attempt to alter the facts and whitewash the history of the President’s House will not stand.

Winter of Discontent at Kennedy Center

Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House was an annus horribilis. As the curtain was falling on 2025, President Trump’s handpicked Board of Trustees slapped his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Trump-stacked board changed the bylaws to allow only his sycophants to vote on the name change. Trump’s name on the building desecrates the living memorial to the 35th President of the United States.

By law, “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” The illegal renaming prompted jazz drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd to cancel his Christmas Eve concert.

In a letter to Redd, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell wrote this is “your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt.”

Redd should call Grenell’s bluff. He would not have to worry about legal fees. Requests for donations to his legal defense fund would break the internet. It’s laughable to think the Kennedy Center would seek $1 million in damages for the cancellation of a free concert. There were no ticket sales; there were reservations. Through the discovery process, Redd would gain access to Board minutes and financial records.

Courage is contagious. Fall of Freedom is giving way to Winter of Discontent at the Kennedy Center. Shortly after Trump installed himself as chairman, “Hamilton” canceled its 2026 run at the storied art and culture institution.

The Cookers cancelled their New Year’s Eve concerts. The band’s drummer, Billy Hart, told the New York Times “the center’s name change had ‘evidently’ played a role” in the cancellation.

In canceling their gigs, Redd, the Cookers and the cast of “Hamilton” are following in the footsteps of the legendary citizen artists featured in the Kennedy Center’s immersive exhibit, “Art and Ideals.”

At the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed that jazz musicians were the vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement. In a statement posted on their website, the Cookers said:

Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us. We are not turning away from our audience, and do want to make sure that when we do return to the bandstand, the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it.

NEA Jazz Master Billy Taylor was artistic director at the Kennedy Center from 1994 until his death in 2010. Dr. Taylor’s composition, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” was an unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

Redd’s canceled concert was to be held on the Millennium Stage. The Billy Taylor Trio inaugurated the Millennium Stage on March 1, 1997.

As long as Trump’s name is on the wall, jazz musicians should not set foot in the building. The only jazz should be live from the archives, Billy Taylor’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center (here and here).

UPDATE: Jazz trumpeter and violinist Wayne Tucker canceled his January 22, 2026 concert which was scheduled for the Millennium Stage.

When you click on the event link, this pops up.

Another one bites the dust.

Fall of Freedom Update

A few days before Fall of Freedom walking tour of Billie Holiday’s Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer published All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson’s opinion piece in which she wrote:

No artist has met the moment with more courage than Lady Day, whose 1939 recording of “Strange Fruit” was named song of the century by Time magazine in 1999, and was added to the National Recording Registry in 2002.

“Strange Fruit” is a timeless and empowering act of creative resistance

While Holiday is sui generis, jazz musicians were the vanguard of the civil rights movement.

At so-called black and tan clubs like the Down Beat and the Blue Note, Black and white people intermingled on an equal basis for the first time.

Jazz clubs were constantly harassed by Philadelphia police led by vice squad Capt. Clarence Ferguson and his protégé, Inspector Frank Rizzo. The nightspots became battlegrounds in the struggle for racial justice. Jazz musicians’ unbowed demeanor fashioned a new racial identity

[…]

Courage is contagious. When we gather on South Broad, we are the resistance.

In collaboration with Scribe Video Center, the walking tour began at the Academy of Music where Billie had several engagements, including on May 6, 1946.

We stopped at the former location of the Radnor Hotel, a Green Book site, where Billie and her husband-manager, Louis McKay, were arrested on February 23, 1956. The raid was led by Captain Clarence Ferguson of the Philadelphia Police vice squad. The arrest is depicted in the biopic United States vs. Billie Holiday.

The penultimate stop was the site of Emerson’s Tavern, the jazz club where Billie last performed in Philadelphia. Emerson’s is the setting for the Broadway play, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”

The walk and talk ended at the former Attucks Hotel where on May 15, 1947, Billie’s room was raided while she was performing at the Earle Theater. Billie got a heads-up and fled to New York City where three days later she was arrested. She was subsequently convicted of narcotics possession and sentenced to one year and one day. Billie served her time at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia.

The following Monday, Faye plastered the sticker that was given to participants all over Freeman Alley, a graffitied place of remembrance on the Lower East Side. Freedman Alley is located about a mile from Café Society, the Greenwich Village jazz club where Billie first sang “Strange Fruit.”

In the participant feedback survey, Faye expressed her hope that Fall of Freedom would lead to Winter of Our Discontent and Freedom Summer.

To stay in the loop, send your name and email address to phillyjazzapp@gmail.com.

Billie Holiday’s Philadelphia Walking Tour

Authoritarian regimes throughout history have targeted artists and cultural institutions. Early in his administration, President Trump issued an executive order that targeted the Smithsonian Institution.

Trump has taken over federal arts agencies and installed himself as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He threatens to withhold federal funding from organizations that do not bend the knee.

Nina Simone said an artist’s duty is to reflect the times and the situations in which they find themselves.

Today, we find ourselves in a situation in which Trump wants to control the narrative.

Fall of Freedom issued an urgent call to artists, creators and cultural workers to stand united against the assault on our constitutional rights and authoritarian control. Fall of Freedom is a celebration of art, courage, and free expression.

No artist reflected the times more courageously than Billie Holiday whose recording of “Strange Fruit” was named Song of the Century by Time magazine in 1999 and included in the National Recording Registry in 2002.

Join All That Philly Jazz and Scribe Video Center on November 22, 2025 for this nationwide wave of creative resistance.

The walking tour will be guided by All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson whose advocacy led to Billie’s induction into the Philadelphia Walk of Fame. We will visit the venues where Billie sang, the hotels where she stayed, and the site of the jazz club immortalized in the Tony Award®-winning “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”

Along the way, we will stop at places connected to Nina Simone and Paul Robeson, artists who, like Billie, used their voices to speak truth to power.

The event is free and open to all, but registration is required. To reserve your spot, scan the QR code or go here.

Art matters. Courage is contagious. We are the resistance.

Election Day 2025

Early voting is underway in many states. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025.

Your vote is your voice. A high voter turnout will send a message to the wannabe dictator in the White House. So be careful how you vote.

Save Our Signs Launches the People’s Archive of National Park Signs

The federal government shutdown has paused the whitewashing of American history prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior’s order implementing President Trump’s Executive Order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” It is insane to believe that “truth” is on the side of Trump and his monochromatic and chaotic administration.

The Save Our Signs project is a crowdsourced archive dedicated to documenting and preserving signs, exhibits and plaques at National Park Service sites. SOS has launched an open-access, searchable digital archive of photographs of interpretive signs taken by visitors to National Park Service sites. As of October 13, 2025, the SOS Archive has over 10,000 photos.

In a statement, Jenny McBurney, Government Publications Librarian at the University of Minnesota and SOS co-founder, said:

I’m so excited to share this collaborative photo collection with the public. As librarians, our goal is to preserve the knowledge and stories told in these signs. We want to put the signs back in the people’s hands. We are so grateful for all the people who have contributed their time and energy to this project. The outpouring of support has been so heartening. We hope the launch of this archive is a way for people to see all their work come together.

[…]

The SOS Archive includes an online collection of the crowdsourced photos organized by NPS site, and a spreadsheet that houses volunteer-provided details for each individual photo submission. In addition to the name of the park, this includes the date that the photo was taken, and may include the title of the sign, if it was submitted by the volunteer.

SOS is still collecting photos. To add your photos, go here.

Collective Resistance to Censorship

Since his return to the White House, President Trump has punished individuals and institutions that refuse to bend the knee. In a guest essay published in the New York Times, Henry J. Farrell, a professor of democracy and international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, argues that collective action is the best defense against authoritarianism:

President Trump is trying to seize power that he is not entitled to under the law or the Constitution.

But Mr. Trump will fail in remaking American politics if people and institutions coordinate against him, which is why his administration is targeting businesses, nonprofits and the rest of civil society, proposing corrupting bargains to those who acquiesce and punishing holdouts to terrify the rest into submission.

This is one part of Mr. Trump’s bigger agenda to remake American politics so that everyone wants to be his friend and no one dares to be his enemy.

[…]

Those who oppose authoritarianism have to play a different game, creating solidarity among an unwieldy coalition, which knows that if everyone holds together, they will surely succeed.

Coordinated resistance stopped the National Park Service from removing interpretive signs at the President’s House for now.

In a recent editorial, the Philadelphia Inquirer acknowledged the impact of vigilance and collective courage:

Kudos to everyone who pushed back against Donald Trump’s attempt to whitewash the history of slavery at the President’s House site near the Liberty Bell.

Trump’s ridiculous executive order instructed the National Park Service to remove or cover up displays on federal sites that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

The arbitrary Sept. 17 deadline to remove the material has passed. For now, the President’s House exhibits remain untouched. But vigilance is still required, given Trump’s erratic policy approach and alarming cognitive state.

I am name-checked in the editorial. All That Philly Jazz is one of 255 signatories to an open statement pushing back against Trump’s attacks on arts and cultural institutions.

Mobilized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, we are standing together to resist censorship:

Arts and culture bring people together. They spark joy, foster belonging, enrich communities, and help us imagine new possibilities. Arts and culture also open space for complexity—for grappling with different perspectives, for hearing what we might rather ignore, and for facing what makes us uncomfortable. Cultural organizations, including art, culture, history, and science museums, as well as libraries, theaters, and dance and performance spaces, make these encounters possible. They are key to the functioning of a democracy, as they promote freedom of expression, encourage critical thinking, and create important opportunities for public discussion and dissent.

[…]

As contributors to the sphere of art and culture, and as representatives of US art and cultural institutions that create space for art, ideas, innovation, and public engagement, we stand firm in the shared values that make for a robust arts and culture landscape: free expression, active debate, responsibility, and care.

Add your voice to the resistance at collective-courage.com.

Philadelphia City Council Condemns Whitewashing of American History

Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson introduced a resolution on behalf of Council President Kenyatta Johnson condemning President Donald Trump’s “efforts to whitewash, suppress, and rewrite American history” on September 18, 2025.

Resolution No. 250776 reads, in part:

WHEREAS, Black history is an essential and inseparable part of American history; and

WHEREAS, President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken actions to dismantle decades of efforts to promote equity and historical truth, including his Executive Orders ending DEI initiatives, restricting gender affirming healthcare, and eroding fundamental civil rights protections; and

WHEREAS, President Trump recently issued an order directing the removal of factual materials now labeled as “corrosive ideology” that criticizes historic American figures, a directive that has been interpreted to include the elimination of slavery related content from national parks; and

WHEREAS, This action will directly impact Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, which features an exhibit honoring the nine individuals enslaved by President George Washington; and

WHEREAS, Independence National Historical Park’s exhibit was developed through the tireless advocacy of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition; and

[…]

WHEREAS, The removal of such content not only dishonors those whose stories are told, but undermines the nation’s ongoing efforts to reckon with its past to foster an inclusive and more just future; and

WHEREAS, This legislative body is committed to preserving and amplifying the voices and histories of its diverse communities, and stands firmly against efforts who suppress and erase part of our shared history; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby condemns President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to whitewash, suppress, and rewrite American history by removing slavery related content from national parks including an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park honoring the nine individuals enslaved by President George Washinton, developed by the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition thereby attempting to erase Black history from the national narrative.

City Council will vote on the resolution during the September 25, 2025 session. While final passage is assured, I plan to offer public comment in support of the resolution. We need to send a clear message to the bully in the White House: We in the City of Philadelphia will not bend the knee and meekly submit to your attempts to whitewash American history.

UPDATE: City Council passed Resolution No. 250776 by a vote of 13-0 on September 25, 2025. Council President Kenyatta Johnson said:

We’re making sure that we are prepared to exhaust all of our options when it comes to legally or legislatively.

Johnson added, “We want to continue fighting back so the exhibit stays in place.”