We can’t exactly explain why this great investigative reporting story from the folks at The Daily Wire has stuck in our craw, but it is so maddening we can’t seem to get past it.

The headline tells much of this sordid story:

The writer is Nikole Hannah-Jones whom you may have heard of. She’s the author of the pop anti-America screed The 1619 Project. This is the historically-debunked book that posits that the American Revolution was fought to retain slavery – and America’s been a systemically racist society ever since.

In this era of wokism, Anti-America tomes become bestsellers and pay handsomely.

Fine. If people want to line up and pay $50 for this made-up nonsense, and if liberal foundations want to pay her millions of dollars to teach racism at Howard University, as WC Fields would say, “There’s a sucker born every day.”

But how in the world did anyone agree to pay her $40,000 to give a 45-minute speech at an Arlington, VA high school?

Her travel costs were maybe $100 for a 30-minute each-way Uber ride from her daytime job a few miles away at Howard University.

And how In good conscience could Nikole take a payment like this from a local nonprofit and taxpayer-funded library that is strained for resources and serves black and brown-skinned students? We thought she was on the side of minorities.

If the Arlington government has $40,000 burning a hole in its pocket, the city council better not come to the residents begging for a tax increase anytime soon.

As for Nikole, if she were a stand-up, classy person, she’d return the check so that the library can stay open for more hours. We will report back to you if she does, but don’t hold your breath.