Aspects & Assumptions of Whiteness & White Culture in the United StatesThe odd thing is the document is very anti-Black, saying rather clearly that self-reliance, intact families, hard work, and scientific rationality are things Blacks don't do. I would hope middle class Black people are outraged at this effrontery. Hayward makes some of these points.
One of the best analyses of the outlandish document I've seen is by columnist Rod Dreher writing at The American Conservative.
Did David Duke write this stuff? It’s crazy! If a white man said that black people are lazy, can’t keep to a schedule, have no respect for authority, can’t think straight, are rude, etc. — he would be rightly criticized as racist.Rush Limbaugh said what NMAAHC described is not America's "white culture," it is Western Culture and it is worth defending. I endorse that view.
But there it is, at the taxpayer-funded National Museum of African American History and Culture.
What kind of neighborhood would you expect to have if most of the people in it devalued hard work, rejected the idea that they needed to be on time, refused to defer gratification, did not respect authority, sought out conflict, laughed at politeness, rejected the traditional family model, and so forth? You’d have communities that were beset by crime and generational poverty, without the cultural tools to overcome the chaos. There are plenty of white people in this country who live by similar rules — and they’re chronically poor too.
Later ... NMAAHC has taken the offending chart down. You know the Web, multiple screen captures got there first so it's in the public domain forever and it has their logo all over it.
Somebody at NMAAHC has a tin ear. Their "public info" wallah ought to lose a job over this misstep. The Washington Examiner has a useful column describing the source of the document, its removal, and a discussion of reactions to it.
