Congressman exposed true foolishness of Smithsonian — and America’s woke ‘reckoning’ — with one hilarious question
During a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday, Rep. Brandon Gill and his Republican colleagues skillfully exposed much of the institutional woke rot embedded in the nooks and crannies of the Smithsonian.
In a particularly revelatory exchange with National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig — there to defend what the White House Domestic Policy Council called the Smithsonian’s “radical, activist ideology” — Gill posed a simple question that could be answered by kindergarten students everywhere.
“Is it important to be polite?” the Texan asked Hartig.
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
Then, in deadpan style, Gill went in for the kill.
“It’s also interesting because the same MASS Action Toolkit that your organization has been promoting references politeness as a defining characteristic of ‘White Supremacy Culture,'” Gill said. “Ma’am, are you a white supremacist?”
Hartig declared that she was not.
“Can you help me square why your organization says that being polite is part of being a white supremacist?” Gill continued.
The MASS — or “Museums as Site for Social Action” — Toolkit was created by museum professionals around 2017 to turn their workplaces into hubs of activism. The Smithsonian staff promoted it as part of their DEI initiatives.
Hartig tried to deflect by noting that her staff didn’t write it. But the damage was done. She had allowed it.
Unlike many colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Gill isn’t high on theatrics. The 32-year-old politician simply reminds far lefties of their own words or the policies their organizations have promoted.
To say it’s effective would be an understatement.
He did the same in 2025 with NPR CEO Katherine Maher, reading aloud her insane tweets about the case for reparations and other anti-racism thought bombs from 2020.
Maher squirmed in her seat, insisting that “much of my thinking has evolved over the last half decade.”
All of these moments travel far and wide on the internet because they are so absurd. But they become far less funny once you realize that the left tried to rewire our entire society to adhere to such cockamamie ideas. They sold them as a racial reckoning and told everyone to get on board or get out of the way.
This “blame whitey” handbook may not have been crafted by Hartig or the Smithsonian, but it does represent much of the great awokening — when leadership in corporations, universities and other institutions allowed anti-liberal principles to become the bedrock of their foundations.
For example, in 2021 Duke Medical school put out a plan called “Dismantling Racism and Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Medicine.” The report deemed punctuality part of “white supremacy culture.” (Good luck trying to get in for a timely appointment with one of those doctors.)
Many in leadership thought they were being good-intentioned. After all, the words “inclusion and equity” seem nice enough.
But subscribing to the anti-racism, pro-BLM and other radical-left ideals also meant survival. Many organizations across industries — Vogue springs to mind — publicly apologized for perceived harmful behavior of the past. As part of their penance, they allowed the cast of “Portlandia” to make the rules.
There was no intellectual honesty to any of these initiatives or bizarre claims — fringe beliefs that belonged in the dark corners of academia, not welcomed into mainstream society.
Dissenters did not fare well. Twitter under its old management banned people for speech, especially the grave sin of misgendering someone.
Author Robin DiAngelo said any objection to the idea that America is an inherently racist and terrible place symbolized one’s white fragility.
This was the era of white women shelling out thousands of dollars for “Race 2 Dinner” events, hosted by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao, where they would break bread and unpack all of their privilege and the systemic racism that keep nonwhites down.
These gourmet struggle sessions achieved only one thing: inflating the bank balances of two nervy and entrepreneurial women of color.
What a brilliant scam.
That was a fevered and wild time. The goal wasn’t to achieve equality or help smart, capable people get ahead, regardless of their race. It was to seize power and gut our meritocracy.
Gill’s questioning of Hartig this week was a sliding-doors moment for America. What if we hadn’t rejected wokeness during the last election and instead continued down this path of lunacy?
Thankfully, we don’t have to ponder the thought. We just have to keep calling it out.
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