The Casual Bigotry of Elite Black Americans: National Museum of African American History & Culture

 

Today I came upon a tweet by Byron York that startled me. York’s tweet included an attachment from the National Museum of African American History & Culture describing what they call “Aspects and Assumptions of Whiteness & White Culture in the United States”. Let me post Mr. York’s tweet below.

This is just stunning. This handy little flyer is available at the National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) website under a section called Talking About Race. This Talking About Race section is pure toxicity and, in the parlance of the Left: hate speech. It hits all the shibboleths and jargon of the woke mob we’ve been seeing and hearing in the last couple of months of “mostly peaceful protests” which have resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars of property damage and the direct deaths of dozens of people. If one did not know any different one might think the NMAAHC Talking About Race section was from Black Lives Matter – in this section are matter-of-fact definitions and discussions of white supremacy, white fragility, white nationalism, white privilege, systematic racism, and institutional racism as if these were long established and agreed facts, presentations by race hustlers such as Robin DiAngelo and the flyer that started this post, speaking of which let me post a larger copy.

It should be noted that the NMAAHC, which was established in 2003 and opened in Washington, D. C. in 2016, is a part of the Smithsonian Institution. Therefore, it is part of the federal government and financed by our tax dollars.

Taking a gander at the flyer, here are just a few of the attributes and behaviors the NMAAHC ascribes to white culture, and therefore I suppose are bad: 1) the nuclear family, 2) hard work, 3) objective, rational, linear thinking, 4) respect for private property, 5) delayed gratification, and 6) being polite when communicating with others. Well alright, then. Those really are diabolical, aren’t they? And, in fact, they have little or nothing to do with whiteness or white culture; rather, they are attributes of Western Civilization and the bourgeois culture that evolved therefrom. Western Civilization with its Judeo-Christian foundation is open to anyone of any ethnic or racial background who is willing to buy into it. It is these values and behaviors which generations of parents, teachers, and mentors have attempted to inculcate in their charges and any individual or society accepting these values has increased their prospects for success and happiness.

In point of fact Americans who accept these bourgeois values regardless of race or ethnicity are overwhelmingly successful in our country. Per the chart below, non-whites of many stripes are better at “white culture” than are whites at least based on income.

Before moving on I want to briefly mention one thing from the chart. In the last 20 or so years, about 2 million black Africans have immigrated from various African nations to the United States, and by and large, have thrived here.

In the post title, I specifically mentioned the casual bigotry of Elite Blacks in current-day America as evidenced by this NMAAHC exhibit/display. However, in this regard, they are no different than Elite Whites. It is society’s elites, the majority of whom are progressive or liberal, who control education, media, the entertainment industry, silicon valley and increasingly our biggest corporations who are both at the forefront of and the most militant enforcers of this Social Justice Warrior/Cancel Culture which is so toxic to and destructive of the core values of the greatest society the world has yet seen.

Finally, since I took the time to run down the bios of the main directors and curators of the NMAAHC, I might as well briefly list them.

Dr. Spencer Crew, Crew, Interim Director – BA – Brown University, Phd – Rutgers

Joanne Hyppolite, Curator – BA – Univ of Pennsylvania, MA – UCLA, PhD – Univ of Miami

Michelle Wilkinson, Curator – BA – Bryn Mawr College, PhD – Emory University

Mary Elliott, Curator – BA – Howard University, JD – Catholic University of America

Lonnie G Bunch III Founding Director- BA & MA American University

William Pretzer, Senior Curator – PhD – Northern Illinois University

Judging by their bios, the leaders of NMAAHC are elites in our society, educated at some of our top colleges and well paid in their chosen field. Yet, they are either fools or bigots, or just maybe, both. There are no other options to explain the idiocy and bigotry of Talking About Race. The idea of a NMAAHC is a fine and noble pursuit, and there is much to document and tell of the black experience in America – slavery, segregation, discrimination, military service in all of our nation’s wars, success in entertainment, sports, business and enrichment of our culture and society in numerous ways. However, if Talking About Race is representative of NMAAHC I question whether it should continue to receive taxpayer funding.

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  1. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    I saw this earlier. Just wow. What can I say. OMG.

    • #1
  2. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    And by the way, did they publish a list of the features of “black culture”?? What would it contain, I wonder. “Be sure to have babies out of wedlock so you won’t be acting white”? I mean huh?

    • #2
  3. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    And by the way, did they publish a list of the features of “black culture”?? What would it contain, I wonder. “Be sure to have babies out of wedlock so you won’t be acting white”? I mean huh?

    Not that I see. That is in the section on Whiteness.

    • #3
  4. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Dammit, @tigerlily! I’m still frothing at the mouth and pounding out a post about this.  You got a great post here, but I must add my 2 cents.  Will link to this post.

    xoxo,

    El hombre muy furioso

    • #4
  5. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Dammit, @tigerlily! I’m still frothing at the mouth and pounding out a post about this. You got a great post here, but I must add my 2 cents. Will link to this post.

    xoxo,

    El hombre muy furioso

    Thanks Boss and look forward to yours.

    • #5
  6. Caryn Thatcher
    Caryn
    @Caryn

    To call it any kind of American history and not get the flag hanging correctly is another kind of idiotic. 

    • #6
  7. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    When they talk of systemic racism, I’ve had the feeling this is what they meant when they made the push for eubonics being a legitimate language and that teachers should stop correcting it.

    Basically, the entire philosophy of systemic racism is an admission that blacks are the cultural outgroup in America (like I would be in France) – effectively foreigners.

    That all the values that it has taken for Western Civilization to be successful are only values for Western civ, and that it is bigotry for other “values” to not be as successful – like selling drugs and petty thievery should be viable jobs like doctor and real estate agent… which explains the push to stop prosecuting certain crimes.

    It’s a rejection of a belief that originates in the cradle of civilization, not in Europe – that there are natural consequences to the choices we make. I’m sorry that Mediterranean civilizations had higher IQs than sub saharan Africa and figured out cause and effect well enough to leave behind a rich, philosophical and religious heritage to the descendants that would later embrace it.

    • #7
  8. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    It seems a very accurate description of Western culture and our (previous) value system. And I would be sitting in front of this poster beaming with pride, regardless of the little snide asides, as I am proud of Western culture.

    • #8
  9. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    It seems a very accurate description of Western culture and our (previous) value system. And I would be sitting in front of this poster beaming with pride, regardless of the little snide asides, as I am proud of Western culture.

    Amen, GC

    • #9
  10. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    And they want to eliminate or mitigate this culture of “whiteness”, which to a great degree, is applied in most successful and free countries.

    The poster lists a lot of great things, doesn’t it?

    Perhaps they can print a nice poster with the opposites, so at least there’s some nice clarity of where they stand, besides hating whites and Jews. (Except for Marx. They seem to love that b*stard.)

    • #10
  11. Nohaaj Coolidge
    Nohaaj
    @Nohaaj

    This should be a satirical post by the Babylon Bee, but it is the sad reality of our perverse state of culture.  You beat me to posting about this. I read about it, and it took a while before I could even grasp the absurdity of this Smithsonian Historical perspective.  I am not sure which would be more effective in resolving my dissonance:  beating my head into a brick wall, or the heads of those clueless curators. I feel like going all Greta on them:  How Dare they!

     

    • #11
  12. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    What an interesting topic. I read through the Talking About Race webpage beyond the link – and while I didn’t agree with everything there, none of it seemed overtly offensive either – but then I’m neither Black nor White, so perhaps just not my buttons?

    I’m wondering if anybody else read through that, and if you did, did you notice this:

    Being white does not mean you haven’t experienced hardships or oppression. Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin. 

    And also from the beginning of the Assumptions flyer thing:

    …since white people still hold most of the institutional power in America, we have all internalised some aspects of white culture – including people of color.

    I think that’s true of people born in America to American born parents, but it’s definitely not true of immigrants, or their children.

    Indian Americans, I will assure you, do not buy into the primacy of the individual (just for example).  That may be relevant to so many hyphenated Americans making more money than non-hyphenated on average, but the migration process is pretty selective for high social capital.

     

    • #12
  13. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin. 

    Just so you know, this is not true.

    Zafar (View Comment):
    we have all internalised some aspects of white culture – including people of color.

    And this is not true, at least not in the way the writer intends it.  It may be true for some, but only a certain category of dark-brown-skinned people.

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Indian Americans, I will assure you, do not buy into the primacy of the individual (just for example). That may be relevant to so many hyphenated Americans making more money than non-hyphenated on average, but the migration process is pretty selective for high social capital.

    And I didn’t understand this.  Can you say this differently?

    • #13
  14. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin.

    Just so you know, this is not true.

    No, I think it’s excessively broad.

    Zafar (View Comment):
    we have all internalised some aspects of white culture – including people of color.

    And this is not true, at least not in the way the writer intends it. It may be true for some, but only a certain category of dark-brown-skinned people.

    Which category?

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Indian Americans, I will assure you, do not buy into the primacy of the individual (just for example). That may be relevant to so many hyphenated Americans making more money than non-hyphenated on average, but the migration process is pretty selective for high social capital.

    And I didn’t understand this. Can you say this differently?

    That flyer lists a bunch of characteristics of what they think “white culture” is, and say a lot of these have been internalised by non-whites as well.

    I don’t think these have been internalised by migrants, not even the finanially successful ones.

    Who are financially successful, imho, because especially for groups whose migration started as ‘skilled’ (ie after finishing college in the US) that comes with a lot of existing social capital.

     

     

    • #14
  15. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Which category?

    Third or fourth generation Black Americans.

    Zafar (View Comment):
    because especially for groups whose migration started as ‘skilled’ (ie after finishing college in the US) that comes with a lot of existing social capital.

    Do you mean that finishing college classes one as skilled?  And by social capital do you mean the interpersonal associations one makes in college?

    • #15
  16. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Zafar (View Comment):

    What an interesting topic. I read through the Talking About Race webpage beyond the link – and while I didn’t agree with everything there, none of it seemed overtly offensive either – but then I’m neither Black nor White, so perhaps just not my buttons?

    I’m wondering if anybody else read through that, and if you did, did you notice this:

    Being white does not mean you haven’t experienced hardships or oppression. Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin.

    I read through it Zafar and it’s racial bigotry of the first order, despite that bit of boilerplate you cited above. For example they provide a number of quotes by  some race hustler named Peggy McIntosh who wrote a book about “white privilege” including among which is this I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust me. The author of that quote presumes and states as fact two things: first that white people train their children to mistrust blacks and second that blacks mistrust whites not due to bias but due to experience. The first is simply untrue – the opposite would be closer to the truth and I think the same is true of the second but then again she is unwilling to provide a presumption of innocence to whites.

    There’s also this bit – a quotation from Toni Morrison – “In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.” What a load of drivel. My memory of things is that it black activists such as Jesse Jackson and his ilk who wanted blacks to be called African-Americans. Again, it’s bad faith for Ms Morrison to blame whites for the term “African-American.”

    And also from the beginning of the Assumptions flyer thing:

    …since white people still hold most of the institutional power in America, we have all internalised some aspects of white culture – including people of color.

    I think that’s true of people born in America to American born parents, but it’s definitely not true of immigrants, or their children.

    I’m not exactly sure what you mean Zafar – but again it’s not white culture it’s American culture (western civilization). Anybody can share these values, and it’s one reason why we have such a long naturalization process. We (as a country) want immigrants who want and can assimilate into the culture. Otherwise there is unnecessary and harmful division and chaos at best. And that isn’t a unique American or “white” issue. Every nation goes through similar and justifiable concerns regarding immigration.

    Indian Americans, I will assure you, do not buy into the primacy of the individual (just for example). That may be relevant to so many hyphenated Americans making more money than non-hyphenated on average, but the migration process is pretty selective for high social capital.

     

     

    • #16
  17. Knotwise the Poet Member
    Knotwise the Poet
    @KnotwisethePoet

    Zafar (View Comment):

    What an interesting topic. I read through the Talking About Race webpage beyond the link – and while I didn’t agree with everything there, none of it seemed overtly offensive either – but then I’m neither Black nor White, so perhaps just not my buttons?

    I’m wondering if anybody else read through that, and if you did, did you notice this:

    Being white does not mean you haven’t experienced hardships or oppression. Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin.

    I skimmed through a good chunk of it.  And that statement actually is one of the main ones that leaped out at me, and, yes, I find it stupid and offensive.  If it had said that a white person is less likely to face hardships or oppression based on the color of their skin, I’d say fair enough, probably true.  But there is no such nuance in that statement.  It just makes a blanket assumption that anybody who is white has never been treated unjustly based on the color of their skin.  Which is BS.

    In a conversation I had with a person of color recently, he talked to me about seeing two white boys in a predominantly black school constantly picked on because they were white.  So, do they not count as people facing hardship based on teh color of their skin?  What about white people assaulted as part of the “Polar Bear-hunting” knock out game?  What about a person applying for a position who is passed over for another applicant because the school or workplace wants to promote greater diversity, and since the person has white skin they don’t count?  What about the amount of attention the media places on white police officers who shoot people of color versus non-white police officers who have done so, or the amount of media attention and uproar over unarmed black people killed by police officers compared to the amount of media attention and uproar over unarmed white people killed by police officers?

    In bringing up these things I’m not arguing that the totality of racial discrimination faced by whites is equal to the totality of racial discrimination experienced by blacks.  But it is absurd to deny that white people also can and do experience racial discrimination.

    I actually do think white privilege exists, in so far that I think that, all other things being equal, a given white person is probably less likely to experience hardships due to the color of their skin than a non-white person.  But I think the extent and applicability of white privilege to various situations and disparities is greatly overstated.

    What I hate about anti-racism is that in it quest to correct for wrongs caused by people in the past treating others differently based upon the color of their skin and not their actual merits as an individual…(continued)

    • #17
  18. Knotwise the Poet Member
    Knotwise the Poet
    @KnotwisethePoet

    it does the exact same thing- making broad assumptions about people and how they should now be treated based on the color their skin.  A person’s individual identity and their own unique life experiences are tossed aside and it is still the color of the skin that must be put front and center in all discussions of interactions and disparities between members of different identity groups.  Anti-racism does not actually end racism, it just plays out new variations of it. 

    • #18
  19. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Which category?

    Third or fourth generation Black Americans.

    Zafar (View Comment):
    because especially for groups whose migration started as ‘skilled’ (ie after finishing college in the US) that comes with a lot of existing social capital.

    Do you mean that finishing college classes one as skilled?

    It can make one more employable, depending on the course of study.  A lot of Indian students in the US focus on STEM degrees.

    And by social capital do you mean the interpersonal associations one makes in college?

    No, I mean that if an Indian from India is studying in America he or she is vaaaaaaaaastly more likely to have grown up in the equivalent of Belmont.  I lived in America for ten years, seven of those as a student, and I never met an Indian from Fishtown.

    • #19
  20. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Which category?

    Third or fourth generation Black Americans.

    Zafar (View Comment):
    because especially for groups whose migration started as ‘skilled’ (ie after finishing college in the US) that comes with a lot of existing social capital.

    Do you mean that finishing college classes one as skilled?

    It can make one more employable, depending on the course of study. A lot of Indian students in the US focus on STEM degrees.

    Hi Zafar. I’m an engineer and went to school with and later worked with many Indian and other foreign-born engineers. It was my general impression that Indians (and Iranians and so forth) who came to the US to attend college were strongly encouraged back in their native land to study in one of the STEM fields.

    And by social capital do you mean the interpersonal associations one makes in college?

    No, I mean that if an Indian from India is studying in America he or she is vaaaaaaaaastly more likely to have grown up in the equivalent of Belmont. I lived in America for ten years, seven of those as a student, and I never met an Indian from Fishtown.

    Based on my experience mentioned above I agree with this.

     

    • #20
  21. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin.

    Obviously, they’ve never walked through the wrong neighborhood while being white.

    • #21
  22. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    tigerlily (View Comment):
    I read through it Zafar and it’s racial bigotry of the first order, despite that bit of boilerplate you cited above.

    Knotwise the Poet (View Comment):
    it does the exact same thing- making broad assumptions about people and how they should now be treated based on the color their skin.

    It’s very hard to address bigotry based on a certain characteristic without emphasising that characteristic, even if one thinks it shouldn’t be important – it’s a conundrum.

    (For eg in India actions to deal with caste discrimination and its impacts on people ended up in some ways extending those identities intothe political arena.)

    I’m in agreement with the points you raise.  But do you think the exhibit has no value?  If you were doing the exhibit what would you do differently?

    I don’t mean to make this twenty questions, but I’m really interested how that exhibit makes you feel and why.  I’m not advocating for its pov in toto (or in part) – though full disclosure: like I said it doesn’t seem that offensive to me, but that’s perhaps because I’m not from there.

    • #22
  23. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Being white does mean you have not faced hardships or oppression based on the color of your skin.

    Obviously, they’ve never walked through the wrong neighborhood while being white.

    I’ve never been white, it’s true :-)

    [Edit: sorry, i read ‘you’ve’; they have never been white either, true.]

    • #23
  24. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Zafar (View Comment):
    I’ve never been white, it’s true :-)

    Someone in the PIT keeps mentioning that “White” no longer means a skin color or of European descent. It means more like the Russians used it during the revolution. It is not really opposed to black, it is opposed to “Red.”

    • #24
  25. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    It reads like a flyer that could have been produced by the KKK, WAR, the Stormfront or the worst elements from die  Junge Freiheit but it comes from the monstrously racist Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Amazing.

    • #25
  26. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Zafar (View Comment):
    don’t mean to make this twenty questions, but I’m really interested how that exhibit makes you feel and why.

    The exhibit makes me angry because the thinking behind it all but guarantees that black Americans (not the recent immigrated ones, but the ones brought here and just as much a part of our history and heritage as the founders) will shirk qualities and values that can lead to success because the values are “white” values.

    This thinking already exists in black culture. It doesn’t need doubling down on or “expert” provided justification. 

    They are doing two things here – that group identity should be embraced by the black american because that is black culture and that embracing “white culture” values is rejection of your group (Uncle Tom with institutional and academic justification).

    That makes me seethe because it continues to ensure the bulk of black americans reject values that lead to strong and healthy communities. And it actually makes it easier for their BRIGHTEST (the Sowells and Thomases of the world) to reject what the values they have used to succeed by providing sophisticated, academic justification for rejecting that culture.

    • #26
  27. Old Buckeye Inactive
    Old Buckeye
    @OldBuckeye

    tigerlily (View Comment):
    For example they provide a number of quotes by some race hustler named Peggy McIntosh

    Funny you should mention this, @tigerlily. I edit college textbooks and in an English comp text for a Midwest university which includes “readings” for the students to get ideas for essays, McIntosh’s garbage is included. The indoctrination is alive and well. 

    • #27
  28. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):

    tigerlily (View Comment):
    For example they provide a number of quotes by some race hustler named Peggy McIntosh

    Funny you should mention this, @tigerlily. I edit college textbooks and in an English comp text for a Midwest university which includes “readings” for the students to get ideas for essays, McIntosh’s garbage is included. The indoctrination is alive and well.

    Somehow I’m not surprised Buckeye.

    • #28
  29. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Alright, I’m not going to do an OP on this, for three reasons:

    -I wouldn’t be writing anything new or different; I guess I’m just too white to appropriately analyze this.

    -There’re no real counterpoints to which to make comparisons.  So, I’m in a “one hand clapping” situation.  Rugged Individualism compared to what?  Nuclear family compared to what?  So not only are the Smithsonian personnel that published this dreck racists, they are cowards.

    -I was unable to determine whether there was a Paul Harvey “rest of the story.” The museum’s number has been busy all morning (go figure).  If anyone wants to take a shot at asking them perspicacious questions, their number is (844) 750-3012.

    • #29
  30. Goldgeller Member
    Goldgeller
    @Goldgeller

    The flyer is deranged and never should have been put out. It should be retracted and everyone who wrote it should have to make a public apology. It willingly cedes every negative stereotype about blacks and it does no one any good. I won’t say it is a betrayal because I don’t view race that way, but its a stunning assault on blacks. Had it come from any other source more people would be up in arms.

    To make it worse, it feels like it has to be a bad faith argument. The people who wrote that have, what I can imagine to be, decent jobs. Jobs you wouldn’t get unless you worked hard. And they wouldn’t let their children or their employees act contrary to any serious value on that list. But in trying to normalize that type of thought, they will pull vulnerable people away from successful habits and orientations towards behaviors or even careers that aren’t successful.

    As an example: It is hard for the kids who are taking their lessons seriously to be criticized for acting white. It is. But that behavior is typically a sub-culture within a sub-culture. To normalize it at the top and risk it getting into the middle class would be devastating. And no one, no one stands to benefit from any of this except perhaps a few diversity consultants. Shameful. 

     

     

    • #30
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