SerpApi.Org
A Smithsonian director found herself in a pickle while testifying before Congress on Tuesday when Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) asked her “is it important to be polite?”
When Anthea Hartig — the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History — answered “Yes, sir,” Gill immediately pointed out her museum published a document linking politeness to white supremacy.
“It’s also interesting because the same Mass Action Tool Kit that your organization has been promoting references politeness as a defining characteristic of ‘White Supremacy Culture,’ Gill said. “M’am, are you a white supremacist?”
“Hmmm, no, sir,” Hartig said.
“You’re not. Can you help me square why your organization says that being polite is being part of being a white supremacist?” Gill followed up.
“I’m not exactly familiar with that passage of the Mass Action Tool Kit,” Hartig said.
Gill said he could share the document with her before deciding to move on.
The document he referenced included a graphic dubbed “Aspects & Assumptions of Whiteness & White Culture in the United States.” The graphic listed a number of attributes and beliefs it argued were tied to “white dominant culture,” including the need to “be polite.”
Other beliefs which signal white supremacy included “hard work is the key to success,” the nuclear family with a wife and 2-3 kids is the “ideal social unit,” and a “woman’s beauty is based on blonde, thin — ‘Barbie’ [prototype],” according to the graphic.
An interest in the British Empire and a belief in “objective, rational linear thinking” were two other signs you might be a white supremacist.
Newsweek first reported the document in 2021; it was published in 2020, a year after Hartig’s tenure as a director started.
You can read the graphic below:
(Screenshot via Whitehouse.gov)
Gill’s question on Tuesday went fairly viral on X soon after. He’s had a knack for that lately, like when a Democratic lawmaker said his question about Somali immigrants almost made her cry last month.
Watch above via PBS.
The post ‘Are You a White Supremacist?’ House Republican Grills Witness Over Tying Politeness to Racism first appeared on Mediaite.
