A small window into the problems at the Smithsonian
I found this, from Professor David Bernstein, interesting. It's a small slice into how the racially obsessed who run institutions like the Smithsonian have deviated from a attempting to tell an accurate story of America into focusing on pushing their oppressed/oppressor worldview, to the point where it caricaturizes Native Americans.
I'd have more sympathy with the Smithsonian here if I hadn't visited the National Museum of the American Indian, and seen ridiculous woke claptrap presented as fact. In particular, there was an exhibit on Native American soldiers. It asked why Native Americans served in the military despite the severe discrimination they faced.
he answer was that Native American tribes had a tradition of service to their fellows that was so strong it overcame their sense of mistreatment. This is ridiculous on two levels. The first is treating the many dozens of Native American tribes as if they are a single cultural entity, it would be like saying "Europeans" have X and Y cultural trait.
But also, it neglects the obvious answer that most Native Americans served for the same reasons as other Americans: (1) they were drafted; (2) patriotism (despite the discrimination); (3) a desire to go out and see the world; (4) the economic opportunities the military offered
I'm not saying that no tribes had particular cultural traditions that might have encouraged service. I'm saying suggesting this as *THE* reason, the only reason mentioned, is patently absurd
And that no serious historian, sociologist, or anthropologist would say such a thing if they weren't tainted by the political/ideological impetus of creating a nobility myth--(Not that there is anything wrong with serving for the other reasons!
So, yeah, I'm finding it hard to get myself into high dudgeon about political interference when the current standards are so low.
https://x.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1958006724033438041
The Smithsonian is, of course, the instition that gave us this bit of racist trash to mock a few years ago.
Where is the link to the image? You must know that your image post is too small to suitably and properly read the print (as all of it is fine)! Please supply a link so we can see what that is going on about!
In Smithsonian Race Guidelines, Rational Thinking and Hard Work Are White Values
Both the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Museum of African American history have extensive websites where we can view their exhibits and material.
I have seen nothing to indicate that either of them over emphasize racism. They have countless artifacts and exhibits that are about other subjects than slavery. However, the African American history museum does emphasize the obstacles blacks have had to overcome. I assume the Native American history museum and Hispanic American museums do the same.
Whit people have to get over the belief they are being picked on . And some of us have.
Some white people want it both ways. They want history to not focus on what their ancestors 'may' have done wrong, they want to focus on what they did right. And at the same time, they want to ignore or even eliminate any talk about the continued effect that the legacy of racism has in our society. To them, they want to claim the racism never really happened or wasn't as bad as liberals try to make it look or was even justified because of, as they want to call them now, "thugs", so they can claim there can be no such thing as a legacy effect from racism that they won't admit existed. And when confronted with the facts their response is either, "Nuh uh! That wasn't us, that was those racism Democrats!" or "those racists all died off and we have nothing to do with them and you can't prove we benefit in any way from the supposed legacy of racism, which, as we said, doesn't exist".
So, when a museum simply displays the unvarnished truth about America's roots the descendants of those bigots desperately try to hide their deep-seated roots in racism and the continued effect the two hundred years of institutionalized discrimination had and continues to have on black Americans. The truth exposes them for what they are, and they hate it almost as much as they hate minorities which is why we see them attacking the Smithsonian.
Rightwing conservatives should be big supporters of The Smithsonian. I mean, they have an entire exhibit dedicated to their ancient ancestors who seem to have shared many traits with their conservative descendants... misogynistic males who grunt a lot and had half the brains but double the hubris.
Out of curiosity, do those museums discuss Dr. King's Epstein like tendencies in his exhibits? Do the museums emphasize black people's historical predilection to commit murder at very high rates and the damage that causes to black communities? If not, why don't they?
Those museums must emphasize the clay feet of black leaders and other unpleasant truths at the expense of positive stories, right?
Probably because that's some really racist shit right there and the fact that you can't see it is sad. The statistics that racists like to use to claim those of other races have a "predilection" or an innate bias based simply on their race are total bullshit. Why? Because all those numbers show are the "predilection to commit murder at very high rates" of humans that live in poverty-stricken areas. It has nothing to do with their skin color but everything to do with the conditions in which they were born. There are millions of black people alive today who will never forget the conditions they had to suffer under often thanks to the white conservative Christians in their States.
So, if this were a scientific experiment, your slanderous claim of "black people's historical predilection to commit murder at very high rates" is a conclusion drawn from those making the claim being directly responsible for kneeling on the necks of those being accused of having a "predilection for murder". If you abuse a people for centuries and force them to fight among themselves for the few scraps you throw at them to survive, can you really claim it's simply a "predilection"? Of course not. Such a claim is clearly dripping with intentional racist forethought.
You dont understand "western civilization" /s
Ah yes. The typical paternalistic progressive response to being exposed to facts they don't like. Scream racism and ignore everything else.
Why don't you treat black people the same? Why don't you expect museums to emphasize the clay feet of black leaders and other unpleasant truths at the expense of positive stories?
I understand the data and the facts. What I disagree with is the moronic and blatantly racist interpretation of the data.
Why do you think I don't?
I don't expect museums to "emphasize" anything. I expect them to display artifacts from different time periods while giving an unvarnished explanation as to what the artifacts are, what they were used for as well as giving details of the time periods in which people lived. What seems to have turned some mostly white conservative Christians into whiny little bitches crying about museums they likely will never visit are the numerous exhibits which reveal white European colonialism and Imperialism which did, in fact, impose white European culture on vast swathes of the planet. Any history museum would be accused of whitewashing history if it didn't tell the truth about that period of history.
Part of that history that museums tell are the first two hundred and forty years of our nation's history which was rife with racism, discrimination and abuse of minorities at the hands of mostly white Christians. Should a history museum alter history or focus "emphasize" only the positive things that certain people accomplished? Should a museum really be used as a propaganda tool by the government in any society other than perhaps a fascist one?
These 'some' conservative savages refuse to learn. . . we are enlightened now. We see through their smoke and mirrors. . . to their rotten spirits. If they would spend half the energy trying to benefit the liberals to 'right the ship of state' in this country. . . we could 99.99 percent dispense with all the striving in opposition. Instead, they dig a deeper hole and try to PERSUADE us that we really are second-class citizens in our country of birth. . . and that it should be so for infinity generations.
What the museums do not list the 'reports' from J. E. Hoover's time as F. B. I. director regarding King? Are they not visible to the world. . . that makes me wonder because I sure heard about the alleged affairs. . . but, of course, Hoover hated King. . . so that kind of record-keeping is arguable and potentially of low value to the reader. (That is, one make have to take it with a 'grain of salt' or weight it against hatred of civil rights leader as a group. . . in any form or fashion for which lying on them or 'dirtying' them up was partial to holding certain levels in public offices.)
You have it right all along. These. . . people don't want equality, equity, peace, love, or kindness towards liberals and progressives. . . of which people of color are heavily committed. They will lie, cheat, and steal to stay the dominant public FACE of this country . . . thus, exposing all their WARTS, for they are many, to new generations of citizens.
Some conservatives don't give a damn about the truth regarding slavery. What they want is to be free of the obligation of talking about it. . . and their citizen ancestors.
To which end, they are acting to whitewash history.
Shame on the shameless, because history can not be forgotten. . . people will write books and no ban can end all the books written already. . .for which the 'institutes' will store and repopulate themselves when RACIST Supremists and their sycophants are casted back into outer darkness.
Sure they are. The FBI surveillance reports y were first reported in his pulitzer prize winning biography year ago. The reports of King laughing as one of his fellow minister raped a girl in the hotel room they were sharing during one of their many orgies didn't receive wide attention in the MSM. Strange huh? But the originals are now accessible by the public.
This is insane. The only people treating blacks like second class citizens are those who treat them like small children who lack agency and in need of help from those with a white savior complex.
I, and most non progressives, think black people are perfectly capable of standing on their own, don't need to be condescended to and can handle reality without seeing it as a racist plot.
Well, there you go with the alleged hearsay out there in an FBI reported files from the era . . . y'all can dirty "Saint Martin L. King" up. /s
He is graveyard dead now so . . . he can't be hurt anymore - or dug up and have his face partially blown off again for the Cause. Don't you know. If he laughed, did not call for the alleged hearsay rape to seize that is on him. . . do with it as you see fit. Think of King as. . .You. . . wish, because you really did not think anything worthwhile of his civil rights work anyway. (We all know that for a fact!
And now, the right is doing the dirty and seedy work of 'dirtying' up Obama.
Shame. Apparently, there is no one on Earth that if you look long and hard enough that some SHIT one time or another stained of flopped onto them.
Look. Don't try that with me. MAGA supporters (watch what they do-not what they say), and your comments testify you are a conservative. . .can miss me with the reference (attempt at familiarity?) to "non-progressives. I am fully aware of what MAGA supporters are 'selling' on the internet and in this forum setting.
That said, think what you intend to (or are told) about blacks and other minorities being 'led' around by their 'sticks' , 'cats,' and savage natures. Because if we were so inept as you suggest we would not accept "white savior" help either.
We are not stupid, because we lack sufficient power to 'overcome' all the bull that conservatives can dredge up from the 'pit' below on a repeat cyclic basis.
Some conservatives, tired and stupid, have been talking that 'smack' before and significantly EVER SINCE the passage of the 15th amendment granting voting rights to minorities.
But it is apparently the nature of conservatives, with their so-called 'superiority complex,' to think Blacks and Others are spiritually, emotionally, financially, socially, and societally exhausted people who desperately are in need of those actively suppressing US to show us the way out of the hell they, some conservatives, keep fighting against us to stay put!
We, are not going to be like you, even if we have to temporarily 'act ugly' to get it through MAGA supporters' heads. We will fight the 'power' of MAGA gaslighting and bull.
Don't ever try patronizing me again in a comment, because it simply won't happen and I will resent the waste of 'effort.'
I think it should be balanced. Was the Smithsonian balanced?
There is another museum nearby that deals completely with slavery. And btw, as far as those who introduced African slaves into America are concerned, I thought they should have been given the death penalty.
"The White House has since highlighted several examples of Smithsonian exhibits and features it deems as “anti-American.”
Some examples include:
The National Portrait Gallery featuring art that displays the act of illegally crossing the Southern border. The American History Museum featuring LGBTQ+ exhibit material, including information on identities like “third sex” and pride flags flying from the tops of museums. The National Portrait Gallery was set to feature the painting of a transgender Statue of Liberty before the artist withdrew it. The National Museum of the American Latino features programming with content from “A disabled plus-size actress” and an “ambulatory wheelchair user” who “educates on their identity being Latinx, LGBTQ+, and disabled.”
Trump says Smithsonian museums are 'OUT OF CONTROL' as he calls for probe of 'woke' ideology | Just The News
It’s all encompassing, like forcing slavery into an exhibit on Ben Franklin.
It is definitely not a case of simply giving us an "unvarnished" look at our history. It is basically history as is being taught at our universities AKA teaching history from a Marxist perspective. And it is as you pointed out an over emphasis on the negatives of American history.
Hilarious. This goes from someone claiming that black people have a "predilection to commit murder at very high rates" to accusing all the universities of being Marxists if they don't agree with your whitewashed version of history. The fact that some are incapable of seeing what they're doing because they are so fucking blinded by their desperate need to protect their chosen ideology is just sad.
Is it really so hard to just say "No, the skin color of a human does not in any way make them more prone to murder or violence than any other"? Is it so hard to understand that the statistic some bigots like to pull out of their asses that on the surface seem to support their racist hate are actually full of logical flaws on closer inspection? The fact that such a position is even being debated is frankly ridiculous, but in the era of Trump and the brain rot he has injected into his poorly educated minions, I shouldn't be surprised.
It is a well known fact that crime rises in high poverty areas. Its been that way forever.
Dense slums like the Subura district in Rome were notorious for overcrowding, poor sanitation, and social instability. These areas housed freedmen, laborers, and the unemployed.
Theft, assault, and petty crimes were common, especially at night when lighting was minimal and policing was weak.
Roman elites often described the urban poor as morally suspect, prone to disorder and sedition. Sallust, for example, blamed the plebs for supporting the Catilinarian conspiracy out of envy and desperation.
so what ?
that is "anti-American" ? Pitiful.
fact that crime rises in high poverty areas. Its been that way forever.
Controlling for income, what are the murder rates by race in America?
controlling for the effects of racism, what are the murder rates by race in america? Do you know what the term "the other" means in terms of race relations? I first saw it coined years ago by Glenn Loury.
So blacks in Africa must have much lower murder rates than in America, since racism causes murder , right?
Is there any group discrepancy you don't reflexively blame on racism?
co-pilot
Glenn Loury has written extensively about the concept of “the other,” particularly in the context of race, identity, and moral psychology. His framing of “the other” is not just sociological—it’s deeply philosophical and political. Here's a breakdown of how he approaches it:
🧠 The Moral Significance of “the Other”
Loury argues that racial inequality in America cannot be fully understood through economic metrics alone. Instead, it must be seen through the lens of social cognition—how people perceive and morally evaluate those outside their group.
He describes “the other” as someone excluded from the moral circle, whose suffering is rationalized or ignored.
This exclusion leads to differential empathy, where society tolerates harsher punishments, inferior schools, and limited opportunity for marginalized groups.
Loury sees this as a failure of democratic fellowship—a breakdown in the idea that all citizens are equally worthy of concern and dignity.
📚 Key Writings and Themes
In his essays and lectures (especially in The Anatomy of Racial Inequality), Loury explores how:
Stigma attaches to racial identity, creating a feedback loop of disadvantage.
Social narratives about crime, poverty, and responsibility reinforce the idea that Black Americans are “the other.”
Policy debates often ignore the deeper moral question: What kind of people are we, if we accept these disparities as normal?
🧩 Contrast with Identity Politics
While Loury critiques identity politics and what he sees as performative antiracism, he still insists that racial inequality is real and morally urgent. His concern is that:
Treating race as a mere “identity” misses the structural and historical depth of exclusion.
The solution isn’t just representation or diversity—it’s reintegrating the other into the moral community.
🔍 A Signature Quote
From The Anatomy of Racial Inequality:
Loury’s work is a challenge to both left and right: he rejects simplistic narratives and demands a deeper reckoning with how societies morally justify inequality. If you’d like, I can contrast his view with thinkers like Charles Mills or Ta-Nehisi Coates, whom he’s both critiqued and praised.
Can you show us where you got that quote?
What statistic are we talking about?
Was Jesse Jackson a racist?
It was he who said the following:
“There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps... then turn around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
― Jesse JacksonQuote by Jesse Jackson: “There is nothing more painful to me at this sta...”
What did he mean?
Do you realize you are borderline expressing racism ?
So racism causes blacks to murder blacks. Got it.
The crime rates for young black men are well beyond their percentage of the population.
Facts aren't racist John. Your refusal to deal with them honestly and simply blame "racism" is much closer to actual racism.
How in hell does that address what I said?
By bringing Africa into it you explicitly connected violence and murder with racial characteristics. That is actually racism believe it or not.
Because high poverty rates don't explain the rising rate of crime for young black men:
50 years of homicide data shows the weight lands on Black people
Instead of calling people "racist," why not try to address the problem?
You blamed white racism for the black murder rate. Systematic white racism is not a problem there. If your theory had any merit, there should be less violence since white people aren't causing black people to murder other black people with their racism. That is how you test a theory. You just want to yell racism and end the discussion without any concern for making a sound argument.
I'm all for putting criminals in prison.
Trump is the most historically illiterate major politician imaginable. He has no business telling museums how to operate or what to display. Prove that the Smithsonian Museum Of American History over emphasizes slavery, or struggles of racial minorities, women or immigrants.
Read what I posted about "the other" . The stigma created by racism has effected inner city populations, yesterday and today.
Loury, who is a conservative I believe, observes that unlike other forms of discrimination, blacks are stigmatized by the existence of their appearance. Of course we didnt have to stigmatize black skin, but we did, and continue to deal with the effects of that.
This is not an all or nothing proposition from either side. It is entirely likely that black crime is effected by both racism and dysfunction in inner city communities.
That is always one side of the conversation when people try to grapple with it. Others point to the lack of an adult male presence in the home. That may carry some weight because prior to LBJ's social programs, crime was much lower in black communities.
In a nutshell...................
But wait! Why didn't the cop and lawyer have a "predilection to commit murder at very high rates"?
You can't have it both ways. You can't claim that we all have the same "choices" while claiming black people have a "predilection to commit murder". So, which is it? Do we all have the same choices and chances? Or are some races just more prone to crime meaning those of that race have to fight against their own racially inherited tendencies toward violence?
This is a good place to say that generally black Americans, homosexual Americans, girls and women, secularists, and Others do not have the luxury of wishing bad things on conservatives. . . we simply want to be left alone from all the nit-picking, meddling, insincere rhetoric, and negativity that comes from the conservative 'camp.'
Yet, even now, it is clear MAGA supporters 'get up' mornings to carry out adversarial acts against liberals, minorities, and Others.
We're defending ourselves from attackers whom are blatant liars when they twist the truth to say they are being attacked. Finally, if some conservatives are being attacked by liberals then it needs to STOP immediately. All such "hostilities" need to end now! (Though I know it will not suddenly, somebody has to stand in the middle ground between two 'bulls' and call for calmer attitudes and actions.to prevail ultimately.
‘I'm all for putting criminals in prison. ‘
Then why are you against him taking criminals off the streets of DC?
If it were a D administration, you would be all for it
There is nothing wrong with the "features." Different strokes for different folks! What Vic has demonstrated is the very thing we are saying all along: MAGA supporters are attacking people based on who/what they are and what they are 'becoming.' MAGA supporters put ideology over people. And, they do this over and beyond freedom - while all the while making high-sounding rhetorical claims to being "agents" of a free society. They are not such. What they are doing has a name: Meddling.
What Africans do in Africa has little to nothing to do with blacks in America do or live, 99.99 percent of black Americans have no association or close connection (no familial ties) to anybody in African. In fact, my understanding is Africans do not feel any true connection to American Blacks.
It does'nt. He is attempting to deflect by arguing 'off the point.' It's insincere and as 2.2.23 points out he is attempting to 'establish' another narrative in the midst.
That is the conservative shtick. You all wish to 'diagnose' black America and treat it with CONSERVATISM! That is, if 'only' every minority especially blacks would just fall under conservative 'tutelage' and become Christian. . . all of its problems would miraculously (over time) disappear. But, remember this: Not every black (may be nt even many want to be conservative. . . and, we should not have to. . . why? Because we don't want to and this is alleged a country where one can be whatsoever s/he wishes as long as it causes no violence (harm) to other people.
As for those 'prescriptions'. . . before you share them against. . . what's up with MAGA and a White (blue-eyed) Jesus? "Physician heal thyself!"
And then the details began to populate the discussion. Additionally, that image you selected. . . could be inverted to show the similar circumstances for whites. . . who go to court and do serve long prison terms.
Black on black crime has nothing to do with racism. Get your arguments 'together.' Black on Black violence, similar to white on white violence is an internal blight. Fix your own selves and bid us well in doing the same. However, do not try to pass or deflect from external racism by turning the focus away from it!
Keep that in mind.
I will. You keep it in mind too, if you agree.
Now, can we touch on what's up with "White blue-eyed Jesus"?
Sean, in your start off narrative. You do not have to Native American 'plainer' to us why those people serve our country because it could be "All of the above." I am pretty sure all the reasons can be summarized in this: Like everybody else, ultimately the Native American want(ed) a sense of belonging.' And, to not have their sacred lands 'home' to vile warrior classes from overseas: A sense of protection of their homeland too!
BTW, it is similarly the reason that Black, brown, yellow, and whites (all the colors on the human spectrum) served and continue to serve. We are ALL born here, live here, endure the challenges, pitfalls, dives, and yes successes in our lives here, and ultimately will die here.
We have a sense of belonging here. It is futile to begrudge anybody that!
You are making the same point as author you are attacking.
What point are YOU making on this article, Sean? Because if you are making the same point I am making about your article. . . you would not have written it at all.