Open Letter to the ‘Ellis Island Reimagined’ Project
– Don’t Go Woke
November 2025
We the Guardians of History are writing to express our concern that your Ellis Reimagined project could easily go off the rails. We see erroneous left-wing thinking creeping into the project and would hate to see such an important part of American history go ‘Woke’ or be hijacked for left-wing causes.
In the video on the Reimagine page (at 2:55), Henry Louis Gates states the project should tell the ‘larger story’, alluding to slavery. However, there is no connection between Ellis Island and slavery. Ellis Island didn’t even open until 1892, decades after slavery ended in the U.S. Twelve million immigrants passed through Ellis Island and not a single one was brought here against their will. It would be a travesty to turn Ellis Island into a monument about slavery. The slavery story is already being told – loudly – at other historic sites, with big foundation money behind it. There is no need to retell it here.
The video (at 2:51) depicts a woman in Muslim garb, which unnecessarily shifts the focus to today’s immigrants. The same misdirected impulse occurred during the first phase of Ellis Reimagined which included a Wall of Honor displaying the names of more recent arrivals. If ‘today’s immigrants should be seen by their children and grandchildren’ as the video says, that might be a laudable goal, but it would be a different project than the one you have undertaken. Moreover, Islam is an alien culture that has no intention of assimilating into America, assimilation being the great dream of those coming through Ellis Island. Standard Islamic doctrine preaches conquest, not assimilation – world domination with violent jihad as the means to achieve it. You do not want to associate yourselves with a doctrine that does not recognize the U.S. Constitution or that seeks the destruction of a country that the Ellis Island immigrants sacrificed so much to reach.
The video also snuck in a picture of the border wall (at 4:36). Blink and you miss it, but we ask you not to turn Ellis Island – which was all about legal immigration – into a celebration of illegal immigration and people who broke our laws to get here.
In short, we caution you against going Woke like other historic sites. Visit Colonial Williamsburg and you will learn that ‘voter ID is slavery’ and hear Native American presenters extol the virtues of communism which has killed 100 million people in a hundred years. James Madison’s Montpelier has been derailed from its mission by the adoption of racial quotas for its board and an undue focus on slavery. Montpelier no longer even has any exhibits dedicated to the Father of the Constitution.
We also caution you not to fall into the trap of thinking that ‘all cultures are equal’. If that were true, there would have been no need for an Ellis Island to welcome the ‘wretched refuse’ created by other societies.
Finally, your video (at 4:32) refers to America as a ‘mosaic’. We urge you to resist the impulse to turn Ellis Island into a ‘living museum’ (at 3:48) telling an immigration story that never ends. That’s not Ellis Island. That’s something else.
And while you’re being inclusive, don’t forget to include the views of everyday mainstream Americans who are proud of the nation’s record of legal immigration, the most generous system of legal immigration in the world. It is that rich history of generous legal immigration that should be the sole focus of your project. Don’t allow your project to become a platform for playing identity politics or spewing left-wing tendentiousness about diversity, equity, and inclusion. The country is past peak ‘Woke’ and you do not want to embarrass yourselves with frolics and detours that will quickly look dated and not wear well in the future.
The best advice we can give you is this: stick to your knitting and stick to the point. Don’t be coopted by Leftists who are cynically using you for their own purposes.
Sincerely,
-- Guardians of History (Potomac Tea Party)
Sent to:
The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation
National Park Service
– Don’t Go Woke
November 2025
We the Guardians of History are writing to express our concern that your Ellis Reimagined project could easily go off the rails. We see erroneous left-wing thinking creeping into the project and would hate to see such an important part of American history go ‘Woke’ or be hijacked for left-wing causes.
In the video on the Reimagine page (at 2:55), Henry Louis Gates states the project should tell the ‘larger story’, alluding to slavery. However, there is no connection between Ellis Island and slavery. Ellis Island didn’t even open until 1892, decades after slavery ended in the U.S. Twelve million immigrants passed through Ellis Island and not a single one was brought here against their will. It would be a travesty to turn Ellis Island into a monument about slavery. The slavery story is already being told – loudly – at other historic sites, with big foundation money behind it. There is no need to retell it here.
The video (at 2:51) depicts a woman in Muslim garb, which unnecessarily shifts the focus to today’s immigrants. The same misdirected impulse occurred during the first phase of Ellis Reimagined which included a Wall of Honor displaying the names of more recent arrivals. If ‘today’s immigrants should be seen by their children and grandchildren’ as the video says, that might be a laudable goal, but it would be a different project than the one you have undertaken. Moreover, Islam is an alien culture that has no intention of assimilating into America, assimilation being the great dream of those coming through Ellis Island. Standard Islamic doctrine preaches conquest, not assimilation – world domination with violent jihad as the means to achieve it. You do not want to associate yourselves with a doctrine that does not recognize the U.S. Constitution or that seeks the destruction of a country that the Ellis Island immigrants sacrificed so much to reach.
The video also snuck in a picture of the border wall (at 4:36). Blink and you miss it, but we ask you not to turn Ellis Island – which was all about legal immigration – into a celebration of illegal immigration and people who broke our laws to get here.
In short, we caution you against going Woke like other historic sites. Visit Colonial Williamsburg and you will learn that ‘voter ID is slavery’ and hear Native American presenters extol the virtues of communism which has killed 100 million people in a hundred years. James Madison’s Montpelier has been derailed from its mission by the adoption of racial quotas for its board and an undue focus on slavery. Montpelier no longer even has any exhibits dedicated to the Father of the Constitution.
We also caution you not to fall into the trap of thinking that ‘all cultures are equal’. If that were true, there would have been no need for an Ellis Island to welcome the ‘wretched refuse’ created by other societies.
Finally, your video (at 4:32) refers to America as a ‘mosaic’. We urge you to resist the impulse to turn Ellis Island into a ‘living museum’ (at 3:48) telling an immigration story that never ends. That’s not Ellis Island. That’s something else.
And while you’re being inclusive, don’t forget to include the views of everyday mainstream Americans who are proud of the nation’s record of legal immigration, the most generous system of legal immigration in the world. It is that rich history of generous legal immigration that should be the sole focus of your project. Don’t allow your project to become a platform for playing identity politics or spewing left-wing tendentiousness about diversity, equity, and inclusion. The country is past peak ‘Woke’ and you do not want to embarrass yourselves with frolics and detours that will quickly look dated and not wear well in the future.
The best advice we can give you is this: stick to your knitting and stick to the point. Don’t be coopted by Leftists who are cynically using you for their own purposes.
Sincerely,
-- Guardians of History (Potomac Tea Party)
Sent to:
The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation
National Park Service