The group Hands Off the Arts has been involved in keeping President Donald Trump’s name off the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ever since the Trump-aligned board of trustees voted last year to add Trump’s name above that of John F. Kennedy.
Trustees also voted to close the facility for two years to carry out renovations, a plan that was initially blocked by a federal judge.
Trump’s name was ultimately added to the building before the same federal judge ordered the Trump name off the building, saying only Congress has authority over naming federal properties.
On Thursday, the board of trustees voted to add Trump’s name back to the building, this time in the form of an inscription that would read: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump,” according to multiple news organizations.
Opponents, including some members of Congress and other groups against having Trump’s name on the building are determining their next move.
“Outside of it being illegal, it’s just gross and wrong,” said Chris Raleigh, an organizer with the D.C.-area activist group Hands Off the Arts. “How many more things are they going to do to be disrespectful to John F. Kennedy and his memory?”
Raleigh said his organization intends to continue to put public pressure on elected officials and Kennedy Center leaders to end the matter once and for all.
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“This has absolutely nothing to do with the performing arts; this has nothing to do with the patrons or the audiences or the workers, honestly,” Raleigh said. “As D.C. residents, it’s our home theater, and we’re going to fight for it.”
Raleigh is hopeful continued public pressure will work.
“We stopped it last time,” he said. “And, arguably, they’re on way shakier ground this time.”
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