A white woman was placed on a curation team at the AA Smithsonian museum

[uncelestial]

by drawing a poor comparison to cubism, which i pointed out

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The comparison was fine and nobody cares about pop star gifs or your post where you switched groups around to be queer people and drag queens -- LGBT was already in the original tweet. Being dramatic and disrespectful isn't really a substitute for talking about the core issue, which is whether issues of representation in a job like this are more important than someone's experience, passion, connections, and bonafides, and not only have you not addressed that, you don't seem to realize that you're responding to a post where I said that I understand the reaction and I think they probably could've found someone at her level who was black.

 

[Deleted member 268]

It seems that they hired based on looking for the most qualified person for the job

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A white woman is the most qualified person to curate the hip hop section?

Is that what you're going with?

 

[signal]

A white woman is the most qualified person to curate the hip hop section?

Is that what you're going with?

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That applied*

 

[TheCthultist]

Someone will complain that she is a woman too.

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No one is complaining she is a woman. That's not part of the discussion at all yet, thankfully.

 

[BossAttack]

The AA museum as a concept didn't exist until an act of Congress in 2003. And the museum didn't start their hip-hop archiving because some random white lady begged the out of touch dinosaurs at the top. Russell Simmons and some industry heavyweights were behind it: http://americanhistory.si.edu/press/releases/hip-hop-comes-smithsonian





I never even heard of this person before today but it looks like she's been busting her ass making this her life's work. It's not even the first African American exhibit she's spearheaded, just the first one in the era of twitter mobs.

https://timothyanne.com









Ya'll are way out of bounds with some of these critiques. She's been on this from the ground floor with the blessing of people in the industry whose works are actually in the exhibits (why the hell else would Chuck D cape for her? Makes sense now) and her historian colleagues, and she's been chronicling African American history, from multiple angles, since half this forum was in grade school.

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Yeah, like I said, I got other things to be upset by.

 

[AtticusFincher]

So a white female african American studies major the interpreter of black feelings? Is that what your saying?

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If she is sourcing the items in the exhibit correctly and telling the stories behind them truthfully, yes.

 

[Deleted member 268]

That applied*

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And that doesn't fucking alarm you? It doesn't prompt you to question the hiring practice?

 

[Jersey_Tom]

The issue isn't really with this woman or her qualifications. I'm sure she's well qualified and will do a good a job. The real issue is why wasn't hip hop on the table in the first? Why did a museum of AA culture need a white woman of all people to convince them to include Hip Hop History? And why they chose to look for candidates in house only. By choosing someone who already works for the Smithsonian (an already white institution) they were bound the get a white curator and shut out potential black people who could've done the job as well.

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Looks like you missed a post here. Let me help you with that, will help clear up some confusion that the OP's causing.

The AA museum as a concept didn't exist until an act of Congress in 2003. And the museum didn't start their hip-hop archiving because some random white lady begged the out of touch dinosaurs at the top. Russell Simmons and some industry heavyweights were behind it: http://americanhistory.si.edu/press/releases/hip-hop-comes-smithsonian

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[FeistyBoots]

People really alleging that a white person was the only person who built up a wealth of knowledge to be a curator on HIP HOP? the ONLY person. lmfao

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Seriously. All this talk of her being the most qualified, from people who literally can't know that as they weren't involved in the selection process, is based on the assumption that there were no black candidates qualified enough. Fuck off with that bullshit. It's just another form of suggesting hiring a black person would have been "because of affirmative action" or a similar conclusion.

 

[vodalus]

Personally I think it's wrong, but even if you don't it is absurd to compare this to Jewish, Japanese or any other culture. What Africans experienced in America can have no useful analog.

 

[Hyun Sai]

The AA museum as a concept didn't exist until an act of Congress in 2003. And the museum didn't start their hip-hop archiving because some random white lady begged the out of touch dinosaurs at the top. Russell Simmons and some industry heavyweights were behind it: http://americanhistory.si.edu/press/releases/hip-hop-comes-smithsonian





I never even heard of this person before today but it looks like she's been busting her ass making this her life's work. It's not even the first African American exhibit she's spearheaded, just the first one in the era of twitter mobs.

https://timothyanne.com









Ya'll are way out of bounds with some of these critiques. She's been on this from the ground floor with the blessing of people in the industry whose works are actually in the exhibits (why the hell else would Chuck D cape for her? Makes sense now) and her historian colleagues, and she's been chronicling African American history, from multiple angles, since half this forum was in grade school.

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Thank you for this. I wouldn't take a stance due to my lack of knowledge on what appeared a complex issue, but now, even as a black person, I'm ok with this. She busted her ass off to do it. She deserves this. And what you quoted should be in the OP by the way.

 

[signal]

And that doesn't fucking alarm you? It doesn't prompt you to question the hiring practice?

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Criticize aspects of it if you want I won't blame you. I think it's weak from an optics POV at the very least.

Just saying this probably speaks more to the demographics of the field at schools and is the result of the specific job posting and applicants. If you told me single digits applied for the position and none were poc I could believe it.

Critique is justifiable just saying people shouldn't make it sound like they went out to the general population looking for "hip hop experts" and this was the best they could find.

 

[Commedieu]

Yeah, like I said, I got other things to be upset by.

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...you sure do...

ok ook ok .. thats it. Never again. Im feelin good on a saturday...

 

[Loudninja]

Thank you for this. I wouldn't take a stance due to my lack of knowledge on what appeared a complex issue, but now, even as a black person, I'm ok with this. She busted her ass off to do it. She deserves this. And what you quoted should be in the OP by the way.

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*sigh* people have explain here many many times already in this very topic why they have issues with this.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

The issue isn't really with this woman or her qualifications. I'm sure she's well qualified and will do a good a job. The real issue is why wasn't hip hop on the table in the first? Why did a museum of AA culture need a white woman of all people to convince them to include Hip Hop History? And why they chose to look for candidates in house only. By choosing someone who already works for the Smithsonian (an already white institution) they were bound the get a white curator and shut out potential black people who could've done the job as well.

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Check my post above. That's not what happened. Def Jam and Universal cut checks to make it happen. Artists got on board to provide material. She obviously helped it along but she was already working in the museum archival section specializing in cultural history. Specifically, AA history.

 

[Raonak]

I just hope situations like this don't lead to POC academics being pigeonholed into jobs that relate more to their race, rather than their actual interests.

It becomes very tiring when people make generalisations like that.

 

[CharlesAznable]

It seems that they hired based on looking for the most qualified person for the job

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That applied*

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Source, that she was the most qualified to apply? Because everything i'm reading on here points that it was an internal hire.

Looks like you missed a post here. Let me help you with that, will help clear up some confusion that the OP's causing.

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Check my post above. That's not what happened. Def Jam and Universal cut checks to make it happen. Artists got on board to provide material. She obviously helped it along but she was already working in the museum archival section specializing in cultural history. Specifically, AA history.

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Doesn't really alter any oft he points I'm making at all. If anything if she wasn't the one pushing for this, then it makes me even more suspect on why they couldn't find an equally qualified black person.

 

[Xiao Hu]

If your biggest concern about who is curating a part of a museum is their ethnical background and not their expertise in the field, then you have no place in academia what so ever.

 

[UltimateHigh]

The AA museum as a concept didn't exist until an act of Congress in 2003. And the museum didn't start their hip-hop archiving because some random white lady begged the out of touch dinosaurs at the top. Russell Simmons and some industry heavyweights were behind it: http://americanhistory.si.edu/press/releases/hip-hop-comes-smithsonian





I never even heard of this person before today but it looks like she's been busting her ass making this her life's work. It's not even the first African American exhibit she's spearheaded, just the first one in the era of twitter mobs.

https://timothyanne.com









Ya'll are way out of bounds with some of these critiques. She's been on this from the ground floor with the blessing of people in the industry whose works are actually in the exhibits (why the hell else would Chuck D cape for her? Makes sense now) and her historian colleagues, and she's been chronicling African American history, from multiple angles, since half this forum was in grade school.

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I'm reading all this extra information and I'm just sitting here like... imagine being the person trying to shame this woman into 'respectfully resigning' (or questioning her for daring to take the position to begin with).

Can we fucking not?

 

[Dragnipur]

Seriously. All this talk of her being the most qualified, from people who literally can't know that as they weren't involved in the selection process, is based on the assumption that there were no black candidates qualified enough. Fuck off with that bullshit. It's just another form of suggesting hiring a black person would have been "because of affirmative action" or a similar conclusion.

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And that doesn't fucking alarm you? It doesn't prompt you to question the hiring practice?

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see

The AA museum as a concept didn't exist until an act of Congress in 2003. And the museum didn't start their hip-hop archiving because some random white lady begged the out of touch dinosaurs at the top. Russell Simmons and some industry heavyweights were behind it: http://americanhistory.si.edu/press/releases/hip-hop-comes-smithsonian





I never even heard of this person before today but it looks like she's been busting her ass making this her life's work. It's not even the first African American exhibit she's spearheaded, just the first one in the era of twitter mobs.

https://timothyanne.com









Ya'll are way out of bounds with some of these critiques. She's been on this from the ground floor with the blessing of people in the industry whose works are actually in the exhibits (why the hell else would Chuck D cape for her? Makes sense now) and her historian colleagues, and she's been chronicling African American history, from multiple angles, since half this forum was in grade school.

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.

*sigh* people have explain here many many times already in this very topic why they have issues with this.

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Most of that is because the OP didn't provide the full story.

 

[BossAttack]

...you sure do...

ok ook ok .. thats it. Never again. Im feelin good on a saturday...

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Damn straight.

SW is serious business.

 

[tommy7154]

I can see saying something like all else being equal, a black person should have been chosen over a white person for this position. Just straight up saying a white person shouldn't be in that position at all though is racist. Don't be racist.

 

[F2BBm3ga]

a fancy schmancy college degree is worthless compared to having a resetera account

come get me when they sign up, and IF they get approved, then we can talk

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If only real life worked like that... lmfao

And here I thought we were a monolith full of hip hop knowledge.

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Over half the people in this thread probably dont even know who kool herc is... (those people hittin up google after reading this)

 

[woman]

Ya'll are way out of bounds with some of these critiques. She's been on this from the ground floor with the blessing of people in the industry whose works are actually in the exhibits (why the hell else would Chuck D cape for her? Makes sense now) and her historian colleagues, and she's been chronicling African American history, from multiple angles, since half this forum was in grade school.

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We know she's qualified. They wouldn't place anyone unqualified in this position.

What we have a hard time accepting is that they were unable to find a similarly qualified black person for this role. Efforts seem to be made in filling most other positions for this museum with African American individuals, and I'm sure everyone can accept that was the right move to make. Why is it an issue to question why those efforts failed in this case?

 

[Deleted member 268]

Criticize aspects of it if you want I won't blame you. I think it's weak from an optics POV at the very least.

Just saying this probably speaks more to the demographics of the field at schools and is the result of the specific job posting and applicants. If you told me single digits applied for the position and none were poc I could believe it.

Critique is justifiable just saying people shouldn't make it sound like they went out to the general population looking for "hip hop experts" and this was the best they could find.

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It took politicking to get that section to happen.

They had to lobby for and she was there from the jump, and props to her, but that's why she's got the job.

I doubt it had anything to do with a lack of qualified black people.

see

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That post changes fuck all.

If she's a supposed to be an ally, then she should recognise it is not her place to fill that vacancy.

She shouldn't have taken the job.

 

[Jarmel]

I am more than fine with this. You don't have to be black to study hip hop and she seems more than qualified.

 

[F2BBm3ga]

Yeah pretty much this, and she has Chuck D respecting and sticking up for her and that means a lot to me.

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Chuck D cosign is a big deal imo

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Over half the people in this thread probably dont even know who kool herc is... (those people hittin up google after reading this)

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I only know of him because of a white Irish guy who wears a plastic bag on his head when performing live did a podcast with the title "Donald Trump and the History of Hip Hop" and discussed how hip-hop actually formed and why it formed at the same time as disco and punk.

 

[signal]

General curator should be black, Scribble Jam exhibit should be white.

 

[Deleted member 36054]

We know she's qualified. They wouldn't place anyone unqualified in this position.

What we have a hard time accepting is that they were unable to find a similarly qualified black person for this role. Efforts seem to be made in filling most other positions for this museum with African American individuals, and I'm sure everyone can accept that was the right move to make. Why is it an issue to question why those efforts failed in this case?

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Thank you

 

[ConHaki66]

I don't mind her being involved but she shouldn't be leading it. Symone sanders is obnoxious.

 

[Westbahnhof]

This is such a sensitive issue, but while I understand concerns, I don't think that curators and custodians for museums need to necessarily be part of the culture on question. It's helpful for sure, but I can't see it as a necessity.

I only know of him because of a white Irish guy who wears a plastic bag on his head when performing live did a podcast with the title "Donald Trump and the History of Hip Hop" and discussed how hip-hop actually formed and why it formed at the same time as disco and punk.

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Blindboy is a treasure tbh.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Blindboy is a treasure tbh.

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He's an absolute treat. That was definitely one of my favourite simply because I had no idea.

 

[Dragnipur]

It took politicking to get that section to happen.

They had to lobby for and she was there from the jump, and props to her, but that's why she's got the job.

I doubt it had anything to do with a lack of qualified black people.



That post changes fuck all.

If she's a supposed to be an alley, then she should recognise it is not her place to fill that vacancy.

She shouldn't have taken the job.

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Why isn't it her place to fill the vacancy?

 

[FeistyBoots]

We don't bat an eye if the local curator for the Holocaust museum isn't a native Jew, or if a person looking to study Christian theology is an atheist. Being black doesn't give you an inherent native born Ta-Nehisi-esque handle on the various cultural and social trends that have lead to this very moment. We wouldn't even be having this discussion if the person in question was literally born in Nigeria and had 0 connection to the traditional black cultural EXPERIENCE as it exists in America because they'd have fulfilled our notions of what a person leading this type of exhibit "should" look like instead.

Being black doesn't mean that they fit all the criteria that you seem to think disqualify this person from leading this exhibit, it doesn't mean you've faced adversity, have lived the struggle, or can emotionally engage with this subject as a result of personal experiences* and these things don't make you any more qualified (this is a buzzword in this thread, I'm sorry) to be running this exhibit in this instance.

Yet we wouldn't even be questioning these things if the person in question had grown up with a silver spoon in their mouth, in the heart of suburbia, listening to rock music all their days so long as they were a few shades darker.

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You don't think a black candidate would have faced adversity and struggles against systemic racism in their life? That's just denying that systemic racism exists.

 

[Elegant Weapon]

Why are people so comfortable telling black folk how they should feel?

So many ITT are doing exactly that. The forum would explode if people were co-singing that women should be ok with a white dude mansplaining women's reproductive health. Because, that's only something a woman can truly and wholly understand.

How can people not understand that this is the same?

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same old shit that happens every thread, only surprising thing about it is some black folk ITT thinking this is ok

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Yeah, this really is more common sense than not. "I'm not black but" comments are so stale yet never stop

ERA is pretty known for colorblind racism at this point tho.

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It really is. Conveniently non-Americans usually show up to offer their limited ignorant perspectives on black American's experiences

Huh, what's wrong with that? It's like saying only black people are knowledgeable about hip hop?
Should only white people be in charge of the rock section too?

I'm an indian dude, and I honestly don't know much about indian music.
I would find it quite racist if I got hired to be in charge of that based on my skin color rather than my actual knowledge and insight into the topic.

This sorta stuff just sends the wrong message.

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You really don't know shit about America's musical history do you? Whites didn't create rock music which is a big reason why many black Americans are making sure ignorant people don't take away our credit for creating hip-hop as well

You'll be surprised black people are responsible for rock music too!

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My thing is, the amount of people who come into these threads who don't know what the fuck that are talking about is too much. It's way too common and the reason I hate posting here. Motherfucker doesn't know shit but has a need to try to tell us something. Fuck these people

 

[Deleted member 268]

Why isn't it her place to fill the vacancy?

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You know why.

Don't waste my time with disingenuous bullshit.

 

[FinalStageBoss]

I'm sure not a single black person applied...smh

 

[Kaban]

Personally I think it's wrong, but even if you don't it is absurd to compare this to Jewish, Japanese or any other culture. What Africans experienced in America can have no useful analog.

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No one is comparing, because they shouldn't be compared to begin with. What African-Americans have experienced in america and what Jews experienced in WW2 are both horrible in their own way, and I find it incredibly disingenuous that people want to compare the tragic aspects of different cultures to argue which one is more deserving of being remembered.

 

[Deleted member 15326]

I'm surprised someone even bothered to make a thread on this here considering how little most non-black posters know or care about black issues

 

[Jersey_Tom]

That post changes fuck all.

If she's a supposed to be an alley, then she should recognise it is not her place to fill that vacancy.

She shouldn't have taken the job.

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It all just feels arbitrary though.

It's okay for her to devote her life to archiving/studying/preserving/exhibiting the history of hip-hop and helping to relate the stories therein, but she's not allowed to advance her career beyond a certain point because of the color of her skin.

Comes off a bit backwards if you ask me. Also illegal, I'd think, if that were an actual standard to which candidates for the position were being held.

 

[F2BBm3ga]

Its literally a museum that exists because of skin color.

I wouldn't accept a job as a curator for a Japanese historyvand culture museum, being an African American and all.

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But if you was a 10th degree black belt in karate, you wouldnt teach it?

 

[Dragnipur]

You know why.

Don't waste my time with disingenuous bullshit.

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No, I don't know your reasons why.

 

[Darkmaigle]

This is some grade A bullshit to me.

 

[Jarmel]

Sounds like this was a pet project of hers too? Yea this is a non-issue.

 

[Deleted member 268]

It all just feels arbitrary though.

It's okay for her to devote her life to archiving/studying/preserving/exhibiting the history of hip-hop and helping to relate the stories therein, but she's not allowed to advance her career beyond a certain point because of the color of her skin.

Comes off a bit backwards if you ask me. Also illegal, I'd think.

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There's nothing arbitrary about it.

Hip hop is a black art form. It's a black art form that originated in large part in response to oppression by whites.

Having a white woman fill this vacancy is ridiculous on multiple levels.

I don't care how knowledgeable she is about hip hop. If she's an ally, she should recognise what she is doing is wrong, and an outrage.

 

[jackissocool]

That's fair I guess it just says something that black Americans aren't there to represent their culture in academic spaces. I have no issue with this woman and I hope she can do the culture justice but I wish black people can be put on too.

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The museum is run by black people. But yeah, on the broader academic/curatorial world, you're absolutely right.

 

[Deleted member 268]

I am more than fine with this. You don't have to be black to study hip hop and she seems more than qualified.

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Sounds like this was a pet project of hers too? Yea this is a non-issue.

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You're 2/2 for trivialising what is obvious not an non issue to black people.

You ain't slick.

No, I don't know your reasons why.

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Yeah, you do.

 

[Jarmel]

You're 2/2 for trivialising what is obvious not an non issue to black people.

You ain't slick.

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I'm a black male. Fuck off.

 

[Aselith]

I don't see a problem with this if she's knowledgeable, respectful, and does a good job.

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I feel like the best form of respect is to allow people from a culture to preserve their own culture but I get why she would take it. When you need a job, you need a job.