Woke Takes a Hit at the Smithsonian, and Watch the Philistinism, Please

There’s lots of art news that doesn’t involve the federal government, but, alas, news from the Swamp looms large. I see that Lonnie Bunch, the head of the Smithsonian, is retiring at the end of the year. I interviewed him in 2019 when he’d just become the Smithsonian’s boss and the fantastic National Museum of African American History and Culture — his project — had just opened. Having done a renovation and addition to a 16-gallery museum, I’m awed by anyone who could lead the charge toward a brand new — and gorgeous — museum many times that size.

He’s 74, so he deserves to retire and rest on his African American museum laurels. Alas, elsewhere he lost the plot of our times. He’s a DEI kingpin at a time when the whole toxic woke enterprise has a target on its back and the White House is aiming at it with orders to fire — and fire bazookas. Under his watch, the Smithsonian co-sponsored the 1619 Project with the New York Times, an unforgivable conspiracy against merit, common sense, quality, and the best in human nature. Driven as it is by race-based preferences and the false value of “equity” — everyone has to land in the same place — much of DEI is illegal. Bunch was proud of the Smithsonian’s role.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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There’s lots of art news that doesn’t involve the federal government, but, alas, news from the Swamp looms large. I see that Lonnie Bunch, the head of the Smithsonian, is retiring at the end of the year. I interviewed him in 2019 when he’d just become the Smithsonian’s boss and the fantastic National Museum of African American History and Culture — his project — had just opened. Having done a renovation and addition to a 16-gallery museum, I’m awed by anyone who could lead the charge toward a brand new — and gorgeous — museum many times that size.

He’s 74, so he deserves to retire and rest on his African American museum laurels. Alas, elsewhere he lost the plot of our times. He’s a DEI kingpin at a time when the whole toxic woke enterprise has a target on its back and the White House is aiming at it with orders to fire — and fire bazookas. Under his watch, the Smithsonian co-sponsored the 1619 Project with the New York Times, an unforgivable conspiracy against merit, common sense, quality, and the best in human nature. Driven as it is by race-based preferences and the false value of “equity” — everyone has to land in the same place — much of DEI is illegal. Bunch was proud of the Smithsonian’s role.