I can't personally think of a better way to reduce the influence of "white, dominant culture," than to make sure that no one has a way to learn about any other cultures other than the white, dominant one.

It's really just common sense.

Here's the full quote from a letter sent to museum members.

"In the 1970s, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science created the North American Indian Cultures (NAIC) Hall," DMNS Vice President of Exhibitions Liz Davis wrote in the letter. "Despite collaboration with Indigenous representatives during its creation and ongoing efforts by curators, conservators, and others to update and improve various parts of the Hall, we acknowledge that it remains problematic. We understand that the Hall reinforces harmful stereotypes and white, dominant culture.

I was in public school in the '70s when this exhibit was first created, at a time when Native Americans were routinely being portrayed in an extremely, and frankly excessively, positive light. It was a great pendulum swing, creating near-cartoon characters depicting peace-loving peoples living in complete harmony with nature and their neighbors rather than flesh-and-blood human beings and all the frailties and shortcomings with which we all naturally struggle.

Reality is far more complicated, but regardless, this exhibit is not your grandfather's "redskins and savages" depiction, so any museum established in that period is already going to be pretty sympathetic to their culture and history. In fact, this specific exhibit was created in concert with Native Americans.

No matter, there are ESG scores to boost, and DEI cred to enhance, and no amount of condescension is too much.

But before we get to the particulars, I'd like to linger a moment on the inherently racist framing of the phrase, "white, dominant culture."

Any time you associate skin color with something that has nothing to do with skin color, you are by definition engaging in racism.

Here is a definition from Dictionary.com that is still somehow online.

a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement...

The rest is still thoroughly wokified, but this definition amazingly survived. And yes, just in case it gets memory holed, I screen captured it.

So, when Liz Davis, and by extension, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, talk about "white, dominant culture," they are engaging in racism. This is given a pass in this culture far too often. This is blatant racist behavior and those perpetuating it need to be called out on it every time.

As for the DMNS's move, it may be racist, but at least it's also stupid.

Here is some more from the letter to museum members.

"This summer, we will be closing the Hall. To acknowledge the harm we have caused...

A perfect example of harm is this fun activity guide (PDF) designed for young students to learn about the history of other cultures in a totally apolitical and ideology-free manner.

The harm done by this to the woke narrative is... incalculable.

Back to the apologia,

...we have developed and agreed upon a healing statement in collaboration with Indigenous consultants, and with input and guidance from conversations with community members. The statement was crafted after taking into account the concerns expressed by the community, and in direct response to those concerns," Davis said.

This "healing statement" (PDF) is available online and posted at the entrance of the exhibit the better to maximize the self-flagellation and is unintentionally comical to an epic degree.

Within this space, the Museum perpetuates racist stereotypes by portraying Indigenous people in dioramas as if they exist only in the past...

Interesting take. I wonder if they thought to consider for a moment the fact that the Denver Museum of Nature &Science is, you know, a museum. I don't go to museums to check out the latest arrivals on Netflix. I go to museums to see items and depictions from the past.

You can see some of the pictures of the displays in the New York Post piece on the story. These are not racist stereotypes insofar as I know. This is what they looked like in the past and this is what they did. That's the whole point. Not all Romans ran around in togas, either, but such depictions also aren't wrong and aren't considered insulting to modern-day Italians.

But wait, there's still more healing to be done.

...using inaccurate names for sovereign nations (regardless of government recognition)...

Inaccurate? Is it inaccurate to call Germany, Germany, because the Germans call it "Deutschland"? We can certainly try to use the original names, many of which survive to this day, but how is it "harm" to use English-language names in an English-language country?

...and displaying their belongings without ongoing consent or respectful attribution.

These belongings belong to whom? How far back do we go to determine ownership? And why would you have to close an exhibit? Couldn't you just do the paperwork necessary and keep it open? It's not like you have to move out of your house every time you rearrange the living room furniture.

Because that's not the real intent.

As part of that process, Museum staff and Indigenous community partners are working to respectfully close this Hall and to reimagine exhibition, curation, collecting, programming, and conservation practices with respect to Indigenous cultural histories, heritage, and belongings.

One can only imagine what a bunch of racist, guilt-ridden, self-hating white people together with perpetually aggrieved activist and "consultants" looking for a payday are going to come up with.

Did I say white people?

Here's the people depicted in their "Executive Profiles" sections, all three of them:

The white people are here! We're saved!!

None of this was lost on Native Americans, who are not professional grievance consultants.

So your answer is to eradicate and erase our history? This is absurd.

This is absurd and insulting. Please don't do this. We are not a fragile people.

No, they are not a fragile people.

However our self-anointed elite are a fragile people, a very fragile people, for they know that those who came before them were stronger, smarter, and braver than they will ever be, and had a moral center and sense of purpose they can barely comprehend.

To be surrounded by their monuments, their institutions, their culture, is a constant reminder of their own vapid, empty lives and intellectual inferiority.

And they can't stand that.

So they tear it down with moral fury, the statues, the museums, the institutions, every reminder has to go, but it's a fury not directed at the rest of us who are respectful of what has been created. No, it's far worse than that.

The real target of that fury is themselves, and that is a fury that can never be sated.