Underground Railroad museum says Trump administration cut funds over race
By Gregory S. Schneider for the Washington Post
The founders of an Underground Railroad history site in Albany, New York, claim the Trump administration’s funding cuts were aimed at marginalizing Black history.
An Underground Railroad museum in Albany, New York, is suing the Trump administration over a federal grant that it says was canceled on the basis of race, arguing that the president’s broad anti-diversity crusade violates constitutional protections against discrimination.
Lawyers for the Underground Railroad Education Center filed the lawsuit Friday afternoon in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York, alleging that the National Endowment for the Humanities withheld a $250,000 grant in violation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. The suit seeks reinstatement of the funds.
The administration “systematically targeted grantees and programs that sought to increase the public’s understanding of Black history and cultures,” lawyer Nina Loewenstein wrote in the 40-page brief, citing a long list of museums and cultural centers around the country that lost funding last year after Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Loewenstein added that “numerous statements of the current Executive Branch leadership reflect overt and coded racism supporting white supremacy and denigrating Black history in America.” She and other lawyers filed the suit through Lawyers for Good Government, an organization that provides free legal services for public interest.