So turns out the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has a webpage where they define whiteness and talk about systematic racism. The site also tells white people to fight against aspects of their white privilege and that it is ok to feel sad, guilty, or mad. And this is in a museum…
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the U.S. government-run Smithsonian Institution, includes a web page about “whiteness” in America that defines it to include individualism, science, and hard work.
The web page on whiteness appears to have been live on the museum’s website for just over a month, according to a search of the Internet Archive. It offers definitions and educational materials for explaining “systemic racism.”
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
“One guide, drawn from “data” on a chart created in 1990, advises that features of “whiteness” include “rugged individualism,” the nuclear family, an “emphasis on the scientific method,” and a belief that “hard work is the key to success.”
According to the chart, other “Aspects and Assumptions of White Culture in the United States” include:
Competition
- Be #1
- Win at all costs
- Winner-loser dichotomy
- Action Orientation
- Master and control nature
- Must always “do something” about a situation
- Aggressiveness and Extroversion
- Decision-Making
- Majority rules (when Whites have power)
…
Protestant Work Ethic
- Hard work is the key to success
- Work before play
- “If you didn’t meet your goals, you didn’t work hard enough”
The Chart goes on to include the nuclear family and that children should have their own rooms.
If you look at the chart and the site there’s nothing wrong with white culture. It seems like other cultures should be similar or aspire to have some of the same assumptions made about them. Why would anyone feel guilty about the positive assumptions made about their race? Asians are assumed to be good at academics and the stereotype is that they are very clever. African Americans are often stereotyped as being good sports and Spanish are seen as very family-oriented amongst other assumed characteristics. People have been assimilating to the American culture since it’s founding why is that suddenly a bad thing?
Leave a Comment