‘They Couldn’t Break Me’: A Protester, the White House and a Doctored Photo - The New York Times

‘They Couldn’t Break Me’: A Protester, the White House and a Doctored Photo

President Trump and the White House regularly circulate imagery that has been manipulated by A.I. But the photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong was different.

Feb. 3, 2026

Nekima Levy Armstrong was arrested for protesting in St. Paul, Minn. She said she learned about the doctored photograph of her while she was in jail, during a phone call with her husband.Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

By Erica L. Green

Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent. She reported from Washington.

When Nekima Levy Armstrong was transported from the federal courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., to the Sherburne County Jail with three layers of shackles on her body — around her wrists, waist and feet — it was the closest, she said, that she had ever felt to slavery.

Still, she walked calmly, her face resolute, her head held high.

But if you saw a photograph that the White House disseminated of Ms. Levy Armstrong, who was arrested for protesting at a church service, you would not know it.

The White House posted a manipulated photo of her arrest to its official social media account, depicting Ms. Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and activist, as hysterical — tears streaming down her face, her hair disheveled, appearing to cry out in despair. “ARRESTED” was emblazoned across the photo, along with a misleading description of Ms. Levy Armstrong as a “far-left agitator” who was “orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”

While President Trump and the White House regularly circulate imagery altered by artificial intelligence, including demeaning and racist deepfakes, it is usually so over the top that the goal seems more about cartoonish mockery than outright deceit.

The photograph of Ms. Levy Armstrong was different. It ​h​as the hallmarks of brazen disinformation from the top level of government: smearing and humiliating one citizen in order to influence public opinion, while sending a warning to other critics to beware of crossing the administration. And it adds a new, social media-era dimension to Mr. Trump’s long record of distortions and lies in the service of his policies and political standing.

Ms. Levy Armstrong, a 49-year-old mother of four, said she learned about the photo while she was in jail, during a phone call with her husband. When she saw it for herself after she was released the next day, she said, she was “disgusted.”

The exaggerated features and the darkened skin, she said, reminded her of when the bodies of enslaved people were left disfigured to deter uprisings on plantations, or during Jim Crow when racist propaganda would depict Black people as caricatures. She said she remained “cool, calm and collected” during both her arrest and the transport to jail.

“They couldn’t break me by arresting me,” Ms. Levy Armstrong said, “so they doctored an image to show the world a false iteration of that time to make me look weak.”

“Reducing my image to some scared crying woman was just so degrading, and it just shows how far the office of the president has fallen,” Ms. Levy Armstrong said. “The presidency, the White House is supposed to symbolize the world’s greatest superpower, but instead they acted like a $2 tabloid.”

When asked about the doctored image, which The New York Times independently confirmed had been manipulated, the White House was unapologetic. Kaelan Dorr, the deputy communications director, brushed it off last week as a “meme.”

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“Enforcement of the law will continue,” Mr. Dorr wrote on social media, reposting the doctored photograph. “The memes will continue.”

‘A Trophy for MAGA’

The Justice Department sought to prosecute Ms. Levy Armstrong under a law that bars using or threatening force and physical obstruction to interfere with or intimidate someone worshiping at a religious institution. But she now faces charges of “conspiracy against rights,” which had been used to protect Black people from harassment by the Ku Klux Klan.

Six other protesters and two journalists, including Don Lemon, also face charges for their roles in the protests, alarming First Amendment experts. Attorney General Pam Bondi has pointed to the cases as evidence that the administration does “not tolerate attacks on places of worship.”

Ms. Levy Armstrong, who is an ordained pastor, said that she led the protest on Jan. 18 at Cities Church to stand up for immigrants’ right to worship without fear of arrest. A leader at the church, David Easterwood, is the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office for enforcement and removal operations in St. Paul. Mr. Easterwood, who was not present at the time of the protest, has been named in a lawsuit challenging aggressive enforcement tactics.

Protesters interrupted the church service with chants of “ICE out” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.” When the pastor yelled, “Shame!” at her from the pulpit, Ms. Levy Armstrong began to lead a chant of “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old woman who was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in early January.

Videos posted on social media show the protest bringing the service to a halt and congregants moving to leave, as the chants continue and worship music begins to play.

The protest lasted about 20 minutes, Ms. Levy Armstrong said.

Four days later, on Jan. 22, federal officers arrested Ms. Levy Armstrong at a downtown Minneapolis hotel, just minutes from the federal courthouse. While her husband filmed the encounter, she asked the agents to treat her with “dignity and respect.”

She asked one of the agents why he was filming the arrest.

“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” the agent assured her.

“We don’t want to create a false narrative,” the agent added.

She said she responded that she did not want to be a “trophy for MAGA.”

But soon after her arrest, an image of Ms. Levy Armstrong was on Twitter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, posted an arrest picture of Ms. Levy Armstrong, apparently without digital manipulation. But within hours, the doctored photo that the White House posted had ricocheted around the country. It has been viewed more than six million times.

In a social media post 48 hours before her arrest, Mr. Trump called the church protesters “agitators and insurrectionists” who should be “thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country.”

The photograph posted to the X account of Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, compared with an altered image posted to the White House’s account on X.

Legal experts said that the fake image could hurt the Justice Department’s case against Ms. Levy Armstrong. Her lawyers could use it to accuse the Trump administration of making what are known as improper extrajudicial statements.

In a court filing, Ms. Levy Armstrong’s lawyer pointed to the doctored photo as an example of political persecution and what he called an effort to “defame her” as part of the government’s “fascist offensive against the American people.”

But even if the case is not airtight legally, the social media campaign is a potent signal to protesters that they will pay a very public price for standing up to the administration.

‘We Don’t Know What to Believe’

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who researches digital forensics, deepfake imagery and misinformation, said that the White House response was a troubling escalation in its use of artificial intelligence.

“I think reasonable people can say that this one was really different, because the photo was real, and it was A.I.-modified to change her facial expression, and it was not labeled such, and it wasn’t at all obvious from the context that it was a meme, as the White House wanted to say,” he said.

Mr. Farid, who is also the co-founder and chief science officer at GetReal Security, a firm that identifies A.I. misinformation, added that posting fake content alongside official business not only risked eroding the public trust — it could also backfire.

“If you are so seamlessly intermixing real and fake, why should I believe anything you do?” he asked. “Where are we as an electorate when we don’t know what to believe anymore?”

Some scholars said the doctored photo was the latest example of a history of racialized propaganda that has been weaponized against Black people, especially in eras in which they are challenging the government.

“It goes back to the images of slavery, but also of Jim Crow abuse by law enforcement, and that abuse with impunity to send a message to the Black community as a whole that we are going to not only assault but humiliate Black people who join in protest effort across the country,” said Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, a law professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

‘A Wake-Up Call’

Ms. Levy Armstrong, who spent more than a decade as a law professor, has had prominent roles in protests over the last decade.

She went to Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 as a legal observer after the shooting death of Mike Brown, and went on to help organize Black Lives Matter protests after his death. She also led protests against police killings of Black men by the police, including Philando Castile, Jamar Clark and George Floyd.

She has been arrested before for leading demonstrations, including in 2015 when she and others were accused of shutting down an interstate after the killing of Mr. Clark.

Ms. Levy Armstrong served as president of the Minneapolis chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. from 2015 to 2016, and in 2017 ran for mayor of Minneapolis on a platform of police accountability and racial equity. She lost to the current mayor, Jacob Frey.

Born in Jackson, Miss., Ms. Levy Armstrong moved to South Central Los Angeles when she was 8 and knew early on that she wanted to be a lawyer after witnessing the injustices faced by the Black community, including the beating of Rodney King.

When she was 14, Ms. Levy Armstrong was accepted to boarding school at the Brooks School in North Andover, Mass., and went on to attend the University of Southern California, where she studied African American history. She got her law degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and taught for 13 years at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, where she was a full and tenured law professor.

“I’ve been in it — 10 toes down, in the fight for justice,” she said.

Now, she sees a silver lining in the White House’s release of the doctored photo.

“It was a wake-up call for the nation in terms of really understanding political persecution,” she said, “and that people are being targeted and penalized for speaking out against the tyranny and fascism of the federal government.”

‘They Couldn’t Break Me’: A Protester, the White House and a Doctored Photo - The New York Times

Trump’s Kennedy Center Shutdown Plan Jolts Workers and Performers - The New York Times

Trump’s Kennedy Center Shutdown Plan Jolts Workers and Performers

"The administration’s announcement to shut the center for a major overhaul led to a swirl of confusion and anxiety among performers and patrons about its future.

Feb. 3, 2026

The sudden announcement that the Kennedy Center will close for two years, starting in July, has created confusion among workers, performers and ticket holders. Caroline Gutman for The New York Times

The abrupt announcement by President Trump that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts would close this summer for a two-year construction project plunged the Washington cultural institution into uncertainty Monday, raising questions about where its orchestra would play and what would happen to its subscribers and its hundreds of employees.

“We’re kind of in shock right now,” said Anne Vantine, the president of a union local that represents box office workers. She said she had spent much of the night after the president’s announcement fielding calls and texts from Kennedy Center employees who were fearful of losing their jobs.

Leaders of the National Symphony Orchestra, who had not joined an exodus of performers protesting Mr. Trump’s actions at the center — which included the Washington National Opera — told its musicians that the center had assured them it would help find other venues where they can perform while the renovation takes place.

“The Center’s administration is committed to the National Symphony Orchestra and its role in Washington, D.C. and beyond,” the officials, Joan Bialek and Jean Davidson, said in a note to musicians, orchestra staff and the orchestra’s board of directors. “We are now working on a formal plan and will share more with you in the weeks to come.”

Mr. Trump’s announcement asserting that the center was dilapidated and needed to be closed and renovated into a “new and spectacular Entertainment Complex” caught center executives, patrons, musicians, and even some members of the institution’s board of directors by surprise. The closing date, on July 4 as the country celebrates its 250th anniversary, is just five months away.

His approach is a marked shift from the painstaking way cultural institutions typically approach a project like rebuilding an established concert hall. The key, several orchestra executives said, was to develop step-by-step plans to minimize the disruption for audience members, contributors and orchestra members.

“We had planned for years in advance of our construction,” said Deborah Borda, who served as president and chief executive of the New York Philharmonic during the $550 million rebuilding of what is today David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. “It was very difficult and it was hard on the orchestra.”

Richard Grenell, whom Mr. Trump appointed to lead the Kennedy Center, has described the closure as a temporary, strategic move intended to accelerate necessary renovations on a “decrepit” building. In an email to employees on Sunday, he promised that more clarity on “staffing and operational changes” would be coming.

The decisions have the potential to affect a raft of workers, including musicians, actors, stagehands, artistic programmers, security personnel and specialists in costuming, hair and makeup. It was unclear whether the center’s marquee event — the Kennedy Center Honors, which Mr. Trump hosted in December — would move forward during the shutdown.

A spokeswoman for the Kennedy Center declined to comment on how future programming and the current staff would be affected by the closure.

Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center from 2001 to 2014, said that when he ran the institution, he was intent on finding ways to keep the building open during significant renovations because of the potential cost of a closure. In 2002, the center expanded its garages — a project that presented a major challenge because they are underneath the building — and he resolved not to miss a day of performances. Closing an arts institution is risky, he said, because it can mean losing staff and dedicated patrons.

“When you shut down, not only do you lose all your ticket sales, but your donors wander away,” he said. “They don’t just sit at home waiting for those two years to pass.”

The Kennedy Center’s theaters have been emptier than usual since the administration installed onto the board of the directors Trump loyalists, who then made him their chairman. They later voted to add Mr. Trump’s name to the building’s marble facade, above the name of the assassinated president who is meant to be memorialized by the building.

Prominent artists like the acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming responded by pulling out of performances. Philip Glass, the American composer, told the National Symphony Orchestra that he was withdrawing a symphony he had written for it that honored Abraham Lincoln.

Still unclear is what arrangements, if any, have been made with the several productions that had already been booked and were scheduled for performances after July 4 — or how the center will handle audience members who have already purchased tickets. At least three touring Broadway productions were set for runs at the center: “The Outsiders,” “Back to the Future” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.” A children’s musical based on the Jim Henson show “Fraggle Rock” was slated to run through July 26.

One orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, said in a statement on Monday that it was going ahead with a planned concert at the center in March.

“They are performing in Washington, D.C., as part of a US tour and in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States,” the Vienna Philharmonic said. “The concerts on this tour are a musical greeting from Austria to all music lovers.”

David C. Bohnett, a former chairman of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, said that the center needed to take care that “patrons, donors and artists stay connected to the institution so when it reopens the momentum can continue.”

“That’s going to be the big challenge here,” he continued.

When the project to rebuild what would become Geffen Hall began in late 2020, New York Philharmonic leaders created a schedule that permitted the orchestra to move from Alice Tully Hall to the Rose Theater to Carnegie Hall, ensuring that at least some show would go on. Six crew members were assigned to pack up 30 cases of instruments and equipment and load them into a 24-foot-long truck. And the Philharmonic juggled thousands of subscriber seats to make sure that these patrons — the ones who are the financial lifeblood of any orchestra — had seats in the ever-changing roster of performance spaces.

Ms. Borda said that Kennedy Center executives should expect to encounter the same kind of problems — but would have precious little time to lay out plans to minimize disruptions for audiences and musicians.

“What are the major obstacles?” Ms. Borda said. “Let me count the ways. Where are they going to go? They have to move all their subscribers.”

Gianandrea Noseda, the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, did not respond to a request for an interview. The conductor, who just last week said he was trying to ignore the political turmoil around him and focus on his music, was described by associates as surprised by the announcement.

Orchestra leaders said they were hopeful about finding places to play while the work takes place. But it may not be easy, with or without help from the center, as it faces competition from other organizations that had been at the venue.

“I’ve got my venues lined up for 27 and 28,” said Francesca Zambello, the artistic director of the Washington National Opera. She said she had four venues lined up but could name only one for now: Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, where two operas will be performed this spring: Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha” and Robert Ward’s “The Crucible.”

“As sales got worse and worse, I knew they were getting more nervous,” she said. “Last April, we thought the Kennedy Center might close, we started exploring physical spaces so we knew where to go if they shut down. We were just being proactive.”

Ms. Vantine, the union local president, said the future of the jobs of box office workers is unclear. Some have worked at the center for more than two decades.

“It’s not just livelihoods,” she said. “They’ve dedicated their lives to the Kennedy Center.”

Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, said his organization always makes a point of doing renovation work when there are no performances scheduled.

“Performing arts companies as a rule want to stay open if at all possible in order not to lose their audiences,” he said. “Being closed for two years would make it very difficult for any performing arts organization to maintain its audience. And without an audience, we can’t exist.”

Shawn McCreesh contributed reporting from Washington.

Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times."

Trump’s Kennedy Center Shutdown Plan Jolts Workers and Performers - The New York Times

Trump Live Updates: House Passes Bill to End Government Shutdown, Sending It to Trump - The New York Times

What We’re Covering Today

Feb. 3, 2026, 12:39 p.m.

Speaker Mike Johnson holding a news conference on Tuesday. He had animated discussions with conservative holdouts before the spending deal passed the House.Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

"The House on Tuesday passed a spending package to end the partial government shutdown and keep the Department of Homeland Security running while Democrats and President Trump negotiate over restrictions on the administration’s immigration crackdown.

The vote was 217 to 214 to send the measure to Mr. Trump’s desk, where he was expected to quickly sign the agreement to reopen major parts of the government since funding lapsed on Saturday But under the deal, the money for the Department of Homeland Security lasts just through the end of next week."

Trump Live Updates: House Passes Bill to End Government Shutdown, Sending It to Trump - The New York Times

DOJ Protects Trump From Epstein Accountability as MAGA Attacks "Sanctuary Cities" | The Daily Show

Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify in House Epstein investigation | Jeffrey Epstein | The Guardian

Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify in House Epstein investigation

"Decision to give testimony comes days before House was expected to vote to hold pair in contempt of Congress

Sara Braun and Lauren Gambino

Bill and Hillary Clinton arrive for Trump inauguration in Washington in January last year. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed on Monday to testify in a House investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, days before the chamber was expected to vote to hold them in contempt of Congress.

The concession follows a tense back-and-forth between the Clintons and the Republican James Comer, chair of the House oversight committee, who on Monday said that he would insist both Clintons sit for a sworn deposition before the committee in order to fulfill the panel’s subpoenas.

“They negotiated in good faith. You did not,” Angel Ureña, a spokesman for the Clintons, replied to Comer, in a post on social media. “They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care. But the former president and former secretary of state will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”

The House was headed towards potential votes this week on criminal contempt of Congress charges against the Clintons. If passed, the charges threatened the Clintons with substantial fines and even incarceration if they were convicted.

“The Clintons do not get to dictate the terms of lawful subpoenas,” Comer said.

For months, the Clintons had refused to appear before the Republican-led panel, arguing that the subpoenas were legally “invalid” and “unenforceable” and accusing Comer of targeting them as part of Donald Trump’s retribution campaign against his political enemies.

A committee letter to the Clintons’ attorneys indicates the pair had offered for Bill Clinton to conduct a transcribed interview on “matters related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein” and for Hillary Clinton to submit a sworn declaration.

The Republican-controlled oversight panel had advanced criminal contempt of Congress charges last month, in response to the Clintons’ refusal to testify in Congress.

On 12 January, attorneys for the Clintons had issued a letter to Comer on why they would not be testifying. They called the subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable, untethered to a valid legislative purpose, unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information, and an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers”.

The demand for testimony “runs afoul of the clearly defined limitations on Congress’s investigative power propounded by the supreme court of the United States”, they wrote, adding: “It is clear the subpoenas themselves – and any subsequent attempt to enforce them – are nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed.”

Nine of the committee’s 21 Democrats joined Republicans in support of the charges against Bill Clinton as they argued for full transparency in the Epstein investigation. Three Democrats also supported the charges against Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein has re-emerged as a focal point for Republicans amid the push for a reckoning over Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 in a New York jail cell as he faced sex-trafficking charges.

Clinton, like a bevy of other high-powered men, including Trump, had a well-documented social relationship with Epstein in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He has not been accused of wrongdoing in his interactions with the late financier.

On Friday, more than 3m files related to Jeffrey Epstein were released by the Department of Justice, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The files included a series of emails between the billionaire Elon Musk and Epstein, indicating a friendlier relationship than was previously known.

Following the drop of the latest batch of files, Democrats have promised to fight what they are calling a “full-blown cover-up” of the Epstein files after the Trump administration on Sunday effectively declared its investigation into the disgraced late financier and sex trafficker was closed.

Many senior Democrats, as well as the Republican congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, say that millions more pages of information are being withheld by the justice department.

After Bill and Hillary Clinton were subpoenaed in August by the House oversight committee, their attorney had tried to argue against the validity of the subpoena. However, as Comer threatened to begin contempt of Congress proceedings, they started negotiating towards a compromise.

Still, the Clintons remained highly critical of Comer’s decision, saying that he was bringing politics into the investigation while failing to hold the Trump administration accountable for delays in producing the Department of Justice’s case files on Epstein.

The Associated Press contributed reporting"

Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify in House Epstein investigation | Jeffrey Epstein | The Guardian

Trump SHUTS DOWN Kennedy Center after MASS RESIGNATIONS!!!

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How Trumpworld Sent Opera Packing

​

“The Washington National Opera’s departure from the Kennedy Center is due to the center’s new economic model, which requires performances to break even solely through ticket sales and pre-confirmed sponsorships. This model, which ignores the vital role of donations, is unsustainable for opera companies, which rely heavily on contributions. The Kennedy Center’s decision effectively rejects opera and other nonprofit performing arts, contradicting its mission to celebrate cultural heritage.

​

Feb. 1, 2026, 9:00 a.m. ET

Stephan Dybus

By Marc A. Scorca

Mr. Scorca served as the president and chief executive of Opera America, a service organization, from 1990 to 2025.

When the Washington National Opera announced its decision to leave the Kennedy Center last month, many interpreted the move as a repudiation of President Trump and his efforts to seize control of the arts complex.

In fact, the repudiation came from the Kennedy Center. By imposing an economic model on the company that makes opera impossible to produce, it was effectively disowning the art form and by extension all nonprofit performing arts and their profound contribution to our national life.

The new mandate set forth by the Kennedy Center requires that every performance break even through only ticket sales and corporate sponsorships that have been confirmed before the curtain rises — a system that the leadership considers revenue neutral. But that system simply doesn’t work for nonprofit arts, and especially for opera, because it ignores the vital role of donations.

Like all other nonprofit performing arts organizations, opera companies depend on two main income streams, earned and contributed. Earned income flows largely from ticket sales, with smaller amounts of money drawn from endowments. Contributed income — mostly from individuals but also from foundations, corporate sponsorships and small government grants — provides more than half of overall income. At most opera companies, contributions of all sizes from individual donors exceed box-office income — as they do for many organizations in other disciplines.

That contributed income isn’t making up for a loss, a misunderstanding held by many; rather, it’s the lifeblood of an opera company. Most companies balance their yearly budgets by generating as much income as possible and managing expenses. Opera and all the arts operate at a loss only if income from contributions plus that from ticket sales falls out of balance with expenses. This model is uniquely American in the arts world. It has prevailed through the dynamic expansion of opera companies, orchestras, dance companies, theaters, choruses and presenting organizations across the country over the past 50 years.

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Opera is enormously expensive to produce. Soloists, choristers, orchestral musicians, dancers, stagehands and backstage artisans all told can number in the hundreds. The costs of sets and costumes are rising steadily. Opera companies have sophisticated fund-raising and marketing departments that work every year to bring in money to cover the expenses of each performance.

All of this is in the service of one of the world’s greatest forms of artistic expression — drama intensified through exquisite music made even more compelling with visually arresting sets and costumes. The stories of opera span the centuries and come in different languages, but they all set out to explore the deepest emotions and complexities of the human condition.

The Washington National Opera was on an upswing in recent years. Since 2018, its endowment has increased from $8 million to almost $30 million. The company fulfilled the budgetary obligations of its agreement with the Kennedy Center every year since, thanks in part to the generosity of its donors. Covering expenses only through ticket sales and corporate contributions would be impossible even in the most stable of circumstances.

Current circumstances are not stable. Ticket sales declined significantly through 2025. Individual contributions have fallen, too. The reluctance of Washingtonians to participate in activities at the center since Trump’s takeover is well documented. Staff members have either resigned from marketing and development departments or been fired, and many positions remain open. Cutting staff to reduce costs almost always leads to revenue losses greater than anticipated savings.

In effect, the leadership of the Kennedy Center has told the Washington National Opera that the inherited masterpieces of Mozart, Verdi and Puccini and works from the new American canon by Mason Bates, Kevin Puts and Jeanine Tesori are no longer wanted at the nation’s performing arts center.

Demonstrating the innate resourcefulness of artists, the company has announced that planned performances will take place at Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, the company’s original home. Francesca Zambello, the company’s artistic director, said it would put on three American works “that explore themes at the heart of what makes our country great.”

The works are Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha”; “The Crucible,” by Robert Ward, based on the Arthur Miller play; and Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”

“‘Treemonisha’ celebrates the triumph of education over ignorance, while ‘The Crucible’ is a cautionary tale about a righteous mob that murders innocent women and tears families apart,” Ms. Zambello said. She noted that Bernstein called his musical, created with Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins, “‘an out-and-out plea for racial tolerance.’”

There is no indication that the Kennedy Center had any issues with those specific works and themes, but depriving the opera company of the resources to produce them rejects them by other means.

The Kennedy Center professes that its mission is partly to “celebrate the cultural heritage by which a great society is defined and remembered.” Repudiating one of the nation’s greatest musical institutions in its capital city contradicts this mission. The company’s success in supporting our rich cultural fabric should be celebrated — not abandoned — especially during the year of our nation’s 250th birthday“