Smithsonian Staff Co-Authored DEI Toolkit 3 Years After 2020 Whiteness Apology
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 23
Smithsonian Staff Co-Authored DEI Toolkit 3 Years After 2020 Whiteness Apology
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 23
Summary
House hearings this week heard that current and former Smithsonian employees co-authored the MASS Action toolkit, which labels traits such as objectivity, individualism and perfectionism as parts of white supremacy.
Mike Gonzalez told lawmakers the National Museum of American History kept using the material for staff reading groups for three years after the Smithsonian’s 2020 apology for a similar “whiteness” chart.
Anthea Hartig said the museum did not develop the toolkit and was “not promoting any ideology,” but Gonzalez pointed to Smithsonian authorship and references to Smithsonian materials to dispute that claim.
A 2022 DEAI report co-authored by Secretary Lonnie Bunch also praised the toolkit as a resource for formal DEI training, widening Republican claims that the institution remains ideologically captured.