To the Editorial Team: The director of Trump’s “Art in Embassies” program, Erin Scavino — an attorney and former model and reality show contestant — recently ordered the removal of a painting from the American embassy in the Dominican Republic by American artist Kehinde Wiley.

“It was very woke,” Scavino explained. “It was by the gentleman who did Obama’s portrait. And it was aesthetically terrifying.”

Here’s what I see when I look at Wiley’s painting: two young women standing in the center and, on each side, sits a young man. All four are in casual, contemporary clothing. While the models are painted photo-realistically, the teal background is flat, like wallpaper, with a pattern of sunflowers, peonies, and tulips that, in places, appears to grow over the limbs of the four models.

Was it terrifying to Scavino, who has zero background in the arts, that the models are black? Was it terrifying to her that these dignified figures look directly and unapologetically at the viewer? Did she even know that the title of Wiley’s work, “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” is a reference to a mid-century Dominican painting. Or did she care that the artist’s intention was to celebrate Dominican artistic heritage using, as models, local, living Dominican artists?

Whatever terrified her, make no mistake, the removal of this painting is part of MAGA’s diabolical plan to erase any representation of our culture that doesn’t elevate white, Christian nationalism.

We cannot stand by silently and allow this erasure to continue. But how can we stop it? We can start by voting for leaders this fall who will fight for a government that represents us all.

And the best way to make sure your vote counts is to vote early and in person, if you can. Early voting for the midterm elections in Ulster County runs Oct. 24 through Nov. 1. Mark your calendars now.

Charlotte Adamis

Kingston