Palmetto State News

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman is South Carolina’s only representative to sign a letter from members of Congress who are “deeply concerned” about the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) slapping a "harmful language alert" to its online versions of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.

The NARA's task force on racism determined that America’s founding documents "laud wealthy white men in the nation's founding while marginalizing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), women, and other communities." 

The report also said the rotunda’s “reverential, quasi-religious treatment of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights does not adequately reflect a full history of the founding of the United States."

In response, the NARA announced recently it would post a “harmful content warning” to its entire online catalog of federal government documents, stating that “some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions,” and elaborating that, “Some items may: reflect racist, sexist, ableist, misogynistic/misogynoir, and xenophobic opinions and attitudes; be discriminatory towards or exclude diverse views on sexuality, gender, religion, and more; include graphic content of historical events such as violent death, medical procedures, crime, wars/terrorist acts, natural disasters and more; demonstrate bias and exclusion in institutional collecting and digitization policies.”

The warning appears on every page of the online catalog, according to NARA communication staff. None of the documents are altered or censored in any way.

"NARA's records span the history of the United States, and it is our charge to preserve and make available these historical records," the NARA explainer said. "As a result, some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions."

According to the letter dated Sept. 20 to NARA Archivist David S. Ferriero and signed by Norman, a 5th District Republican from Rock Hill, "The role of the National Arichives should be to preserve our shared histories and educate future generations, not deny, change, or demonize our past."

The letter concludes: "Therefore, we demand that you immediately remove this harmful content label from your catalog, stop weaponizing words and needlessly politicizing the American story, and return the National Archives to its true mission of strengthening our democracy instead of attacking it."