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A white woman was placed on a curation team at the AA Smithsonian museum
- Thread starter RastaMentality
- Start date
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I just want to know one thing...
When do you start giving away the cool super weapons..?
this woman is abundantly qualified, although with a lens of history, its likely due to privilege. But, shes qualified, she has a history with the smithsonian.
I just want to hear why they couldn't find any black people..were they late to the interviews...? And that is just me being curious. What the reasoning was, as this was going to only go one way online, in todays world of tweets as news.
Did you even see the 35 minute interview she gave to Left of Black, where she mentioned she managed to convince the Smithsonian to add hip hop to the music collection, only after explaining how it shared many characteristics and in some way it was the evolution to other genres they had in the collection already? Yeah, the white lady did that. Crazy shit, no?
It's not being handwaved as a white institution. It's a statement of fact. It doesn't mean all their efforts must be in vain. What don't you get?
And it was only brought up because apparently we were supposed to applaud Burnside for being a part of the effort to get the National Museum of American History to start collecting hip hop in 2006. As if that's a credit to her and not evidence that they have a lot of work to do in giving african american history its due.
Giving a black person ownership over a white person's accomplishment and hard work would be a unique twist.
Would be an interesting situation, since historically the opposite happens.
Soo, who took this decision?
It's these people, right?
We're gonna armchair judge a group of mostly-black people for their decision on who to put in charge of their own museum?
Power balance is fine here. If she brought up a kickass collection and museum creds, and the majority-black museum council decided she got a shot, i'm trusting them there were good enough reasons for that.
I'm reaaally not comfortable screaming "Internalized racism" at that director.
It's these people, right?
We're gonna armchair judge a group of mostly-black people for their decision on who to put in charge of their own museum?
Power balance is fine here. If she brought up a kickass collection and museum creds, and the majority-black museum council decided she got a shot, i'm trusting them there were good enough reasons for that.
I'm reaaally not comfortable screaming "Internalized racism" at that director.
So what's his goal here? To get her fired or to shame her into stepping down because he's an ass?
...that's seriously where we're at with this conversation? I get that this post was an outlier amongst the actual discussion, but come on...
From the sounds of it, shes qualified, and this was sort of her project....Where else can we go with this? I'm really starting to believe that yes, no black people were doing this.
Yeah, I need more facts to figure out how all of this went down.
Youre calling others racist and in the next line talking about how a specific color of a person should not be in charge of something...because of the color of their skin. Do you understand that is what you're doing? Do you understand that is racist as well?
So, wait, we're not supposed to give credit to someone who did something that is very much a positive? She cannot be applauded for doing something that should have been done and wasn't, convinced what you are implying to be a racist (or at the very least biased) institution to do something that would be against their perceived norm, and then given a chance to continue that work in a meaningful way?
I'm really surprised she accepted this position. She seems to be someone with significant knowledge of the culture, so you would expect that she would be very aware of just how sensitive and potentially insulting this would be?
This is not a situation that we should have ended up in.
This is not a situation that we should have ended up in.
Hello!
At the very least, the museum should've been prepared to handle speculation about this. They weren't. Which is troubling.
This is the same tired argument we see all of the time with actors.
Like I said before it seem black people are never qualified for their own culture.
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?
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?
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
yes, but it's like... why do you think the museum was more amenable to her efforts vs the efforts certainly made by african americans in the past
If she's qualified, I don't see a major problem. I understand the moral issue, though. But I'm jewish and I wouldn't have an issue if a gentile put together a Jewish History exhibit, as long it was well-researched and pulled from multiple experiences and sources. People major in different cultural studies, whether it's Asian, African or European - if they know their stuff, then they know their stuff.
If a white person pursues a Bachelor of Arts or a graduate degree in African American studies and specializes in music, then what job can he/she get without causing controversy? Not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely asking.
If a white person pursues a Bachelor of Arts or a graduate degree in African American studies and specializes in music, then what job can he/she get without causing controversy? Not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely asking.
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I disagree, This one we can zoom in and enhance. You've got a Black museum, with blacks running the thing. And you've got a white woman, seemingly pushing for a Hip Hop edge to the whole thing. She gets the job... So I yes, my questions have to go to the black heads of the musuem, why wasn't hip hop anywhere on the table to begin with? And if she was the only one pushing for it, how else is a black person going to get that job? Blackmosis?
This is not the same thing as ben kingsley in ___name any movie___. Its more like Jared Leto pushing Tyler perry to make a movie about Black jesus staring him, and it is one hell of a script... plus hes secured most of the funding...
same old shit that happens every thread, only surprising thing about it is some black folk ITT thinking this is ok
Why is that suprising? Black folk aren't a hivemind and can think for themselves.
From what I can tell, we have black posters opposed to her, and those in favor. Some completely indifferent. I'm white and won't chip in with my own opinion, but you can tell there is no unified one on this matter from the black community at least here.
This is a fair point. "The leadership chose her, and they're black" is a poor excuse to me.
And here I thought we were a monolith full of hip hop knowledge.
You're worried about other people who aren't Burnside trying to heap too much praise on her for trying to get a hip-hop exhibit in the NMAH?
This is the major concern we're having? I mean, I'm sorry but I can't help but feel like getting bent out of shape about other people acting like fools propping her up like she's the Big Daddy Kane of museum curation isn't really worth getting outraged about.
My understanding for why that was being brought up was just as a bullet point on her resume that she's passionate about the subject matter and that she's not coming at this as a person who listened to Hello Nasty once and then suddenly was considered an expert on Hip Hop.
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Is the white man in question a gynecologist? In that case, his medical understanding of women's reproductive health would probably be much greater than the average woman's, though he would not have firsthand knowledge of what menstruation or child birth feels like, no. Just taking this analogy further, it is entirely understandable that some women may be uncomfortable with visiting a male gynecologist for a wide variety of reasons...but that wouldn't negate a doctor's medical expertise.
Similarly, it is entirely understandable that a white person curating an exhibit on hip hop would make some black people uncomfortable, and they are well within their rights to voice that discomfort. That doesn't invalidate her professional qualifications and prior work though.
I fucking wish she would.
You know why.
maybe i should have rephrased myself? when it comes to this discussion i don't like how some black folk are eager to handwave the concerns of others. however qualified she may be, i don't think it's a particularly good decision and the leadership being black means jack shit here.
You're doing the same to them though, handwaving their support/indifference. That's no better.
Yeah pretty much this, and she has Chuck D respecting and sticking up for her and that means a lot to me.
...so then by your logic their opinion on the matter just plain doesnt matter. If it's not in agreement with how you view it, they should just keep it to themselves? You are quite literally telling them how they should feel about this...
Absolutely, that is a fair point, and something the museum profession is currently struggling with. Most museum exhibits are curated by people without a direct, personal connection to the people or cultures the exhibit represents. Museums have tried to solve this disconnect by engaging in dialogue with the people of these cultures, if they still exist, and work with them to present the material in a way that is respectful to their culture.
So a white female african American studies major the interpreter of black feelings? Is that what your saying?
Im starting to think this division over the issue was the intended effect from the way this news was delivered... im reading the news on other sources, and yes, this seems like a reverse racism trap for hits/retweets/fodder.
"For context, Burnside has been collecting Hip-Hop related artifacts for the museum and the exhibit for years, including the late J Dilla's MPC machine among other items since 2006."
Shes been doing this since 2006... knows what shes doing, and is an ally. While the initial optics raise questions, the fact is shes doing work for the community. My kneejerk reaction earlier seems to be what was desired. So since 2006, no one else has been up for it, or have had the opportunity... which is a whole other kettle of fish.
Yeah does everyone remember the twitter storm when this guy was announced as the president of the american society of obstetricians and gynecologists in 2017? (full disclosure: current president is a woman)
Or when this guy was announced as executive director of the american board of obstetrics and gynecology?
Anybody?
Hello?
ERA is pretty known for colorblind racism at this point tho.
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