Biden Admin Spends $300K in Taxpayer Funds To Study Why Minority Kids Like Japanese Comic Books – By Chuck Ross (Free Beacon) / July 29, 2023
The Biden administration is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to study why minority children read Japanese comic books, part of an initiative to implement “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in the nation’s libraries.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency under the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, this month awarded New York’s Queens College $313,318 to conduct a three-year study of manga and to “understand why [black, indigenous, and people of color] kids read manga,” a style of comic book that originated in Japan. The grant is aimed at closing the “knowledge gap” for librarians who are “unfamiliar” with manga and to identify manga titles popular with teenagers. The grant is provided under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which aims to “develop a diverse library and archival workforce” and “reduce equity gaps and address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion” in libraries.
It is the latest example of the Biden administration using taxpayer dollars to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The State Department sent $100,000 to Palestinian groups to promote DEI principles and is spending $12 million to implement DEI in Iraq. The administration recently spent $90,000 to study diversity, equity, and inclusion in the construction industry. The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Biden State Department has spent nearly $5 million to help foreign activist groups stage pride parades and drag shows.
