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Op-Ed

Mike Huckabee: Your Tax Dollars at Work - Smithsonian’s 'Whiteness' Poster Backfires Big Time

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There have been plenty of examples recently of people using blatantly racist and racially divisive rhetoric while posing as opponents of racism, but the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture is promoting an attack on “whiteness” that goes (pardon the expression) beyond the pale.

It not only fills kids’ heads with poisonous racist garbage; it’s also paid for by our tax dollars.

The museum created an incredibly racist poster to explain “whiteness” and “white culture” to young people.

According to this poster, “white culture” in the U.S. encompasses such passe concepts as hard work; individualism; the nuclear family; Christianity, the scientific method and rational, objective thinking; communicating clearly; competition; majority rule; property rights and even being on time.

Essentially, the list includes all the things that have been proven to lead to success and happiness in life for anyone of any race.

You have to hand it to whoever created this poster: They actually managed to bring together white people and black people, conservatives and liberals, in agreement that it’s astoundingly racist and insulting.

It’s not wrong simply because it ascribes all those attributes only to white people (for the record, recent polls show that 70 percent of white Americans identify as Christian, compared to 79 percent of African-Americans and 77 percent of Latinos), but because of what it implies about nonwhite people.

Do you think this poster is racially offensive?

As critics across the political spectrum have pointed out, if those attributes are only “white” things, that implies that black Americans must be lazy, irrational and dependent.

It implies they have no regard for family, property rights or Christian morals.

Basically, it implies every ugly, racist insult you might expect from a KKK poster.

When called out on it, the Smithsonian issued one of those “calm down, you just don’t get it” sort of responses.

The museum said people need to take a “holistic approach” and read the information in full context. They added that “[c]onversations about race are difficult and challenge us to wrestle with our assumptions, pre-conceived notions, prejudices, and biases.”

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Well, I took a holistic approach and read the whole stupid poster in context.

The whole thing is racist and repulsive, equally insulting to both white and nonwhite people.

Conversations about race may be difficult, but it appears that for the Smithsonian, creating a poster about race that doesn’t propagate assumptions, preconceived notions, prejudices and biases is downright impossible.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

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Mike Huckabee is the host of "Huckabee" on TBN Sat/Sun 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, a Fox News contributor, author, former Arkansas governor, bass guitarist and grandfather to six of the cutest kids in world! He's also a special contributor for The Western Journal.




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