Mike Huckabee: Your Tax Dollars at Work - Smithsonian’s 'Whiteness' Poster Backfires Big Time
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.
The National Museum of African American History & Culture wants to make you aware of certain signs of whiteness: Individualism, hard work, objectivity, the nuclear family, progress, respect for authority, delayed gratification, more. (via @RpwWilliams)https://t.co/k9X3u4Suas pic.twitter.com/gWYOeEh4vu
— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 15, 2020
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.
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.”
As an institution devoted to learning and education, we welcome those discussions while also encouraging the public to take a holistic approach and read the information in the full context.
Learn more: https://t.co/j16wGcvNkm
— Smithsonian NMAAHC (@NMAAHC) July 16, 2020
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.
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