Euronews reported that the issue arose from the "This is Colonialism" exhibition at Dortmund's Zeche Zollern Museum. According to the outlet, White patrons are not allowed to enter the exhibition from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The scheme, it added, has been going on for several months now.
The museum defended its action, saying that the four-hour window period is reserved for Black patrons and other ethnicities. The policy does not seek to discriminate, but to reserve a "safe space for reflection for non-Whites."
"This is about an affected group, so the request is that the affected people can also be themselves and talk about themselves," said Barbara Rüschoff-Parzinger of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe's (LWL) Department of Culture. "That's the approach, to discuss a topic for oneself and with oneself and then just be free from other people."
The LWL operates the Zeche Zollern Museum, which houses an exhibition exploring the Westphalia region's colonial past. While it has been open for months, the exhibition sparked a fiasco after a video of a White journalist from a radio station being denied entry surfaced on social media.
Many social media users described the video as a "racism scandal." Meanwhile, the LWL requested police presence in front of the museum.
Black history museum describes positive traits as "whiteness"
A similar issue centering on race occurred at a U.S. museum in 2020. In July of that year, the Washington Times reported about the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture's (NMAAHC) removing a "whiteness" graphic in its "Talking About Race" exhibit.
The said graphic attributed positive traits such as hard work, self-reliance, delayed gratification, being on time and politeness to "White culture." Other qualities attributed to "whiteness" included reliance on the scientific method, rugged individualism and preference for the nuclear family. (Related: The Smithsonian denounces "dominant white culture," its rugged individualism, the family unit, the scientific method, and the value of hard work.)
The poster was originally intended to be critical of what it described as "White culture." However, the effort backfired – with many rebuking it as condescending and unfair to Blacks as it ascribed a multitude of positive traits to "whiteness."
Political commentator and former policeman Brandon Tatum denounced the NMAAHC for making the graphic. The content creator behind The Officer Tatum channel on YouTube called it "racist" and an example of "the bigotry of low expectations for Black people."
Tatum remarked in a video: "Why in the world would the [NMAAHC] put out this document? Simply allude to the fact that every great quality that you ever could imagine is only White people, like Black people have no good qualities. That's what this article is saying."
Meanwhile, Horace Cooper of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network accused the museum of trying to offer advice to cripple Black America. "To call those [skills] somehow a racial category would make David Duke proud," he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, alluding to the White supremacist and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
The NMAAHC later released a statement confirming the removal of the controversial poster. "Certain content in the 'Talking About Race' portal has been the subject of questions that we have taken seriously," it said. "We have listened to public sentiment and have removed a chart that does not contribute to the productive discussion we had intended."
The museum, which was established in 2016, showcases a host of Black historical figures and celebrities. But according to the Times, it received criticism for opening without any mention of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The magistrate appointed by former President George H.W. Bush was added to the NMAAHC's collection the following year.
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Watch this video that discusses the NMAAHC's offending graphic about "whiteness," which it later took down.
This video is from the Recharge Freedom channel on Brighteon.com.
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