Sandra Shachar Scotch-taped a sign to the area surrounding the President’s House, where the Trump administration controversially replaced a slavery exhibit. She’s been threatened with arrest if she does it again.
Philadelphia psychologist Sandra Shachar, who was cited and threatened with arrest by the feds for vandalism at the President’s House on July 15, 2026 (photo courtesy Sandra Shachar)
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Philadelphia made national headlines on Wednesday after federal workers replaced the slavery memorial at the President’s House at 6th and Market streets on Independence Mall, the site once being the location of the home of George and Martha Washington as well as the people they enslaved there. The site has been the subject of an ongoing legal battle between the Trump administration and the city, brought into the spotlight by Philadelphia activists Michael Coard and Carl Singley and the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition.
Many visited the President’s House on Wednesday to protest the federal government’s new signage, including Philadelphia psychologist Sandra Shachar, who was cited for vandalism and threatened with arrest by the feds after she Scotch-taped a sign identical to the one above to a glass panel at the site. On Thursday morning, we caught up with Shachar to learn more.
Hi, Sandra. Can you please just tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Sandra Shachar, I live in the Washington Square area of Philadelphia. I don’t know if you need an exact address.
I think we should not include an exact address.
Thank you. I appreciate that. My day job is I’m a psychologist. And I am an ordinary, working citizen of the city of Philadelphia.
Have you always been a politically active person?
I have been speaking out against what feels like an injustice or a disservice done to the fellow inhabitants of this planet, probably since the 1970s. My young adulthood was during the ’70s, and some of the things I find myself protesting these days are some of the same kinds of issues that we were protesting back in the ’70s. My activity with respect to the President’s House began in January, when the exhibits were first removed by the Trump administration after their review in 2025 of all National Park exhibits for material and information that would be, to use their verbiage, inappropriately disparaging of Americans and our past.
Have you been following the work of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition?
Yes. I became aware of them as I was familiarizing myself with what was happening at the exhibit and beginning to understand the history of how the exhibit came to be through this excavation in the early 2000s. And the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition was instrumental in working with the city and then the federal government on this carefully designed exhibit that has been standing at the President’s House to explain what had happened there.
Which was?
This was not only the home of our first president and his wife Martha. This was the site of enslaved people that they were keeping here in Philadelphia. One of those slaves, Ona Judge, was successful in escaping thanks to the help of abolitionists in Philadelphia and the free Black citizens of Philadelphia who were helping those they could escape the horrors of slavery. The exhibit highlighting this part of our history — to have that first of all completely removed, I found that distressing because we deserve to know our own nation’s history and the history of our founding and of people like Washington, the first president of our country and one of the leaders of the revolution enabling us to become emancipated ourselves from England. History is complicated. Human beings are complicated, and we’re neither all completely good and pure, or completely bad and evil. We’re a mixed bag. And we can handle the truth, to paraphrase that movie. We’re entitled to our own opinions, we’re not entitled to our own facts. Our government shouldn’t decide what we can and cannot know, what we can handle, or what version of the truth to tell us.
So let’s talk about what happened on Wednesday when you were confronted by the feds.
In previous days, I had been hanging up articles from the Inquirer and signs at the site, helping people more fully understand what is happening at the present site. Why are some of the panels of this exhibit on slavery at the President’s House missing? And explaining that this site has been the subject of an ongoing court battle between the Trump administration and the city of Philadelphia.
I have to ask you: Did you use any language in these signs that might be inflammatory against Donald Trump?
Not to my mind.
So there was no name calling? You weren’t using terms like fascist or Nazi, as we’ve seen on many signs of protest over the last couple of years?
No. What I was putting up was information about what’s happening here and leaving it to the visitor to make of it what they will. I feel strongly about having all of our history accessible so that we can learn from that and hopefully use that to become better versions of ourselves.
And how were you engaged by officers?
When I arrived yesterday morning, I did see the new exhibits were in place. I never saw the U.S. Park Police there before yesterday, but there must have been about 15 of them. They were kind of huddled together, close to where I was going to put up my sign. So I went to Scotch-tape my sign to a glass window at the site, and one of the officers said — and about three or four of them started coming over, I felt swarmed a little bit — “Stop, stop.” And told me to take it down. I started to put it into my bag, and he said, “No, no, give that to me. We’re taking that.” And I was like, OK. And then they asked me to step aside. And the main officer said, “You’re not being arrested.” And I said, “Well, what is happening?” He said I was being cited. The guy in charge spoke with me and said, “We don’t want any trouble, we don’t want any confrontations.” And I said, “Well, that’s good. I’m not wanting that either.” He said, “You are being cited for vandalism of federal property, and there’s a fine of $305. You can choose to pay the fine, or you will be issued a court date.”
Something tells me you’re looking forward to showing up for court.
I rather am, I must say. He clarified multiple times, “We’re just doing our jobs here.” And I said, “I know you are. I have no hard feelings with you.” They took my ID and Social Security number and, I guess, ran them through the system and saw that I had a clean record. I’ve never been arrested or charged with anything.
Why would they take your Social Security number?
I don’t know.
How would you describe the demeanor of the officers you engaged with?
It was primarily Officer Scholts. He was very polite. I think he was a little taken aback when I offered my hand to him at the end to shake, and he shook my hand. He also said, “You should leave now.” And I said, “OK, I will do that.” And I guess we’ll leave it to a judge to decide whether Scotch-taping a sign to a window is vandalism.
Did they tell you not to come back?
I’m not prohibited from returning, but he said if I did it again, I would be cited and maybe arrested.
Will you do it again and force an arrest?
No. I consider myself to be a law-abiding citizen. If you are telling me this is breaking the law, I will stop immediately and respect and obey the law, even if I don’t like it or disagree with it. I will act respectfully. The officer also said, “Please tell the people you are working with that the same will happen to them.” And I said, “I’m not working with anyone. I’m here of my own volition.” This isn’t an organized effort in any way.
Oh, you’re not Antifa?!
[Laughs] No, this is not Antifa. This is not a conspiracy. We’re just ordinary citizens showing up and speaking out. This is what democracy looks like.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Victor Fiorillo
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