ACLU Statement on Trump Administration’s 1776 Commission Report

NEW YORK — On Monday, the Trump White House released the report of the presidential “1776 Commission,” which both defends America’s founding on the basis of slavery and likens progressivism to fascism.

In the following statement ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, highlighted the white supremacy that will define the Trump administration’s legacy for decades to come:

“Donald Trump has always attempted to use a fictional version of the past to justify racist policies. As such, it is only fitting that in the final days of his term as president, and on the day we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King Jr., his administration released a report that pushes a white supremacist version of our nation’s history, justifies slavery as ‘more the rule than the exception throughout human history,’ and compares members of the opposing political party to fascist dictators.

“For four years, the Trump administration has not only shouted racist rhetoric from the mountain tops, but they’ve also implemented a framework to turn that language into policies that have had a devastating impact on the lives of marginalized communities across the world. This final racist, tyrannical manifesto should enshrine the legacy of the Trump administration as precisely what President Trump intended it to be: that of a bigoted, xenophobic tyrant who peddled a factually inaccurate version of our country’s history with the ultimate goal of empowering white supremacists.”