This put up was initially revealed on The Washington Informer
By Stacy M. Brown
Underneath President Donald Trump, insurance policies and locations rooted in African American historical past, autonomy, or self-determination have been stripped for components or introduced beneath his private management. Now, that marketing campaign has landed on sacred floor in Washington: Langston Golf Course.
In one among his first main strikes concentrating on Washington’s civic infrastructure, Trump’s administration terminated the 50-year lease of the Nationwide Hyperlinks Belief (NLT), the nonprofit that has operated Langston, Rock Creek Park Golf Course, and East Potomac Golf Hyperlinks since 2020. The Inside Division accused the nonprofit of defaulting on its obligations.
The group flatly denies it, saying it invested greater than $8.5 million in capital enhancements and adopted the phrases of its settlement. The termination instantly halted renovation tasks and opened the door for federal takeover.
“We’re basically in disagreement with the administration’s characterization of NLT as being in default beneath the lease,” Nationwide Hyperlinks Belief wrote in an announcement. “Now we have all the time had a productive and cooperative working relationship with the Nationwide Park Service and have labored hand in hand on all points of our golf course operations and growth tasks.”
Langston is just not merely a public golf course tucked alongside the Anacostia River. It was inbuilt 1939 as a result of Black golfers had been barred, harassed, and humiliated at whites-only programs throughout the nation. It exists as a result of exclusion calls for resistance and survives as a result of the Black neighborhood refused to let it disappear.
“They’re taxpayers, they’re residents, and so they have a proper to play golf on public programs on the identical foundation as whites,” Inside Secretary Harold Ickes mentioned in 1941. “The chilly reality is that we now have not stored it up.”
Trump has been express about his want to place his stamp on Washington — The Kennedy Middle, the Smithsonian, the White Home grounds, and now, public golf.
Since returning to the presidency, Trump has reportedly spent greater than $30 million in taxpayer cash on golf journeys, lots of them to properties he owns or earnings from. Whereas he lectures about effectivity and accountability, public {dollars} have flowed freely to his leisure, his resorts, and his model. Langston, against this, has survived many years of neglect and underinvestment whereas serving generations of Black golfers shut out elsewhere.
Additional, Tiger Woods has agreed to help within the redesign and renovation of Langston as a part of a Trump-backed public golf mission, in line with a White Home adviser.
“I’m chargeable for redesigning it and making it higher than it ever was,” adviser Ed Russo mentioned. “And I’m proud to say that Tiger Woods has agreed to assist me try this.”
Woods constructed his legacy on the shoulders of Black pioneers like Lee Elder, who broke limitations in a sport that by no means needed Black faces on its fairways. But now, he has aligned himself with a president whose file towards Black historical past is one among hostility and erasure.
After having witnessed the president’s developments when touching public areas — prices rising, entry shrinking and the neighborhood being pushed apart — native golfers concern for the way forward for Langston.
“My hope is that the historic Langston golf course continues to supply alternatives for individuals to come back and play,” Craig Kirby mentioned.
Others see the transfer as bare energy.
“Nationwide Hyperlinks Belief has invested some huge cash in modernizing and redoing Langston,” golfer Lou Manzo mentioned. “To have all that taken away on a whim could be very irritating.”
Trump has claimed that if he takes management, District residents would pay decrease charges. Coming from a person who owns 16 golf properties worldwide and has constructed his model on exclusivity, the promise rings hole.
Langston Golf Course was born as a result of Black Individuals had been denied house, enduring segregation, hostility and neglect as a result of the neighborhood refused to give up it. Now, beneath the banner of enchancment, Trump is making an attempt to soak up it.
“Whereas this termination is a significant setback, we stay stubbornly hopeful {that a} path ahead may be discovered that preserves inexpensive and accessible public golf within the nation’s capital for generations to come back,” NLT mentioned.
The put up Trump’s Erasure Marketing campaign Reaches Langston Golf Course appeared first on The Washington Informer.
