Smithsonian pushed ‘revolting’ social action training after ‘whiteness’ chart apology: expert

Smithsonian staff played a pivotal role in developing what one expert referred to as a "revolting" DEI training guide despite the taxpayer-funded institution previously walking back and apologizing for a similar chart on "whiteness," a series of House hearings this week revealed.

Mike Gonzalez, a DEI and identity politics expert at the Heritage Foundation, testified that years after the Smithsonian apologized for its controversial "whiteness" chart, the National Museum of American History continued advancing similar concepts through a training guide known as the "Museums as Sites for Social Action" (MASS) toolkit. Similar to the chart, Gonzalez said the toolkit describes objectivity, individualism, perfectionism and several other concepts as characteristics of white supremacy.

In addition to staff members co-authoring the toolkit, Gonzalez said that for years museum leadership kept "indoctrinating staff" by holding staff reading groups to study its materials.

"[The] museum kept surreptitiously indoctrinating staff with this trash for three years after the museum apologized for using it, which shows the promises of reform are written in sand," he said in one of the hearings this week. "This is their own words, the leadership of the Smithsonian says constantly that it wants to use the museum to transform America, for societal transformation. They see history itself as a tool, an instrument to change society."

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In 2020, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture removed and apologized for a chart that described "objective, rational linear thinking" as an aspect of "whiteness" or "white dominant culture," saying, "We erred in including the chart. We have removed it, and we apologize," the Miami Herald reported.

In a viral moment from one of the hearings this week, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, confronted Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig about a passage in the "Museums as Sites for Social Action" (MASS Action) toolkit used by the museum that asserts objectivity is part of white supremacy. In response, Hartig said the museum did not develop the toolkit and asserted "we’re not promoting any ideology."

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Gonzalez, however, pointed out that the toolkit was co-authored by half a dozen current and former Smithsonian employees, including an NMAH employee, and references Smithsonian materials.

"This is what Marxists do. I think that people who want to truly transform the country, seize the cultural institutions in order to mold how people think," he said.

"But wait, there’s more," said Gonzalez.

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He pointed to a 2022 "Excellence in DEAI Report" co-authored by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch that praises the MASS Action toolkit as a good resource for the dissemination of formal DEI training.

The report states that "one major aspect of the work that takes time is shifting leaders and museum professionals away from white-dominant characteristics of perfection, risk aversion, and conflict avoidance to move toward action."

Addressing the lawmakers present during the hearing, Gonzalez said, "Does anyone in this committee believe that perfection is a white characteristic? The man who runs the museum apparently does."

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"Lonnie Bunch himself agrees with this racist nonsense," he charged.

"Once again, I call on Congress to do its duty and take back the Smithsonian from a rogue leadership that now uses it as their own plaything for dangerous ideological games," he continued. "This Insanity has gone on long enough."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History for comment.