A Smithsonian-affiliated museum features programming minimizing the 2,977 Americans killed by Muslim terrorists and instead says Arabs were also victims in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn, Michigan, features an exhibit arguing that Arab Americans “suffered two-fold as a result of the tragic events of September 11th,” both from the attacks themselves and from what the museum describes as unfair treatment by the U.S. government afterward, Fox News Digital reported.
The museum was founded in 2005, and on an about page on their website, an “anti-oppression statement” and “land acknowledgement” are both featured.
“In alignment with AANM’s commitment to creating an arts sector rooted in justice, we are committed to ensuring a space that is free of racism, transphobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, ableism, misogyny, classism, or other biases. Our expectation is that all visitors will honor these ethics,” one of the statements reads.
The AANM receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is one of over 200 affiliated institutions of the Smithsonian.
A visit to the museum by Fox found exhibits and placards saying, the federal “government’s post-9/11 detention of immigrants investigated for possible terrorist links, noting that ‘virtually none were charged’ in connection with terrorism,” and, “Arabs faced harsher immigration enforcement after the attacks, saying some were ‘deported for minor visa violations or petty offenses which previously would have been overlooked.’”
The museum also holds an annual town hall event centered on September 11 where criticism of the reaction to the terror attack is often the focus. In an online description, the event says, “Every year around the anniversary of 9/11, AANM offers a safe space for communities to reflect and engage in dialogue about the harmful prejudices that Arab and Muslim (and anyone perceived to be Arab or Muslim) individuals face on both an individual and systemic level.”
President Trump and Republican lawmakers have called out the far-left bias of the Smithsonian.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, and the administration has since been evaluating the institution for allegedly promoting biased narratives and moving toward “extreme political activism,” according to Breitbart News reporting.
Additionally, a report on the Smithsonian’s America 250 exhibit featured “more objects related to leftist causes than items representing Christianity and conservatism.”
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