DWMs & the Long March through America's institutions

Institutions don't come much more institutional than the Library of Congress. I visited its website looking for a gift for a friend.

What an interesting picture it presents of the United States. Hardly a Dead (or even Living) White Male of British, Irish, Nordic, Italian or German ancestry to be found - although Wimmin in abundance. There's a link for Wimmin. On the Americana link, the next link is to Civil Rights stuff (bastard white oppressors) and there's a main link to the Great Depression (bastard white capitalists) section.

Easy-peasy finding links for aboriginal or African America, or Russian, Jewish or Japanese (former mortal enemy whom we don't hate any more) stuff. A print of a Japanese painting is the featured item under the heading 'Household accessories'. What every American home needs, obviously. Oh, wait... What's this? Beethoven? Well, OK then.

Right. Now to look for something about America's pioneering work in museums and art collections, American authors... Mark Twain or Hemingway, maybe. The great universities like Yale and Stanford. Austin. American jurists, explorers, archaeologists, historians and linguists. The USA's massive achievements in industrial and scientific research. Its world-leading orchestras. The British and other Western Europeans who built the Thirteen Colonies and the nation's capital - and Capitol. And Congress itself. And the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln.... hm... wait... He was important, wasn't he? Must see if the Library of Congress has anything about him.

Here are a few screen shots I made earlier.

First: People, Culture. "Portraits of children and families and people representing the cultures of Native Americans, African Americans, Japanese, Russians and others". That would be most Americans, those 'others'.

Next: Music. We have Blues (African American music), Classical Music (a black musician is shown), Jazz (originally a Black form), and Paul Simon. Oh, wait. There's a Folk Music link, clicking on which takes you to a page with twelve CDs shown. Eleven of them are about black musicians, and yes, we're still on what the authorities of the Library of Congress calls 'Folk Music', here.

And so to Posters. We have a Native American in the heading, then links for Jewish Interest, African Americans, Native American (nice portrait of Geronimo), posters (misc), and Musical Instruments. Some mistake there, obviously - the instrument shown looks like a person. If this weren't the Library of Congress website, I'd swear it was Bach. Can't be. He's a Dead White European Male Genius whose name will live for evermore.

And finally. Here's that featured Household Accessory I was telling you about. Lovely, isn't it?

There's something odd here, though. Serious omissions. Opportunities missed.

The African American and Native American stuff is properly dominant but where are the links to material on Gay America and American Transpeople? And surely all this emphasis on Jewish-America doesn't fit with the assiduously enforced anti-Semitic zeitgeist in American academic institutions?

Surely the Library of Congress ought to be showing some leadership here and putting up prominent links to its stuff about Muslim-Americans? But... silly me. Of course that will happen just as soon as Muslim donations outweigh Jewish American donations and there's less need to favour Jewish donors so much. And what a day of rejoicing that will be among the thought police of American academe. Partay! With jazz!