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\tThe Jung-Luke Museum in Seattle announced in a statement on Friday, June 28 that an exhibition at the museum, which sparked a staff walkout in protest of the exhibition for equating anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, will be moved to a new location that has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n
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\tTwenty-six staff members, about half the museum\u2019s staff, walked out of the institution, which is centered on Asian Pacific American art history, in response to \u201cTogether Against Hate,\u201d an exhibit co-hosted with the Washington State Black Heritage Society and the Washington State Jewish Historical Society. The exhibit focuses on violence against local black, Jewish and Asian communities. The museum\u2019s text describes its intention: \u201cto serve as a unifying response and community rallying cry to the bias and bigotry that sows division and hatred in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\trelated articles<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n \tMuch of the staff\u2019s anger was directed at an image of a wall text in KUOW\u2019s introduction to the exhibition, published before it opened on May 22. That text begins, \u201cToday, anti-Semitism often masquerades as anti-Zionism,\u201d and later refers to a phrase graffitied on Temple Herzl-Ner Tamid on Mercer Island, Washington, in November: \u201cStop the Killing\u201d \u2014 however, the museum\u2019s text incorrectly refers to it as \u201cStop the Killing\u201d and says the graffiti was written \u201cas if the Jews of Mercer Island could control the actions of the Israeli government.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \tThe text also reads, “On college campuses, pro-Palestinian groups express support for Hamas (classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government) and a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea,’ a term defined as the elimination of Israel.”<\/p>\n \n \tIn a letter sent to the museum\u2019s leadership on May 19, staff asked the museum to abandon language and partnerships that \u201cseek to characterize Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism\u201d and for the museum to \u201cacknowledge the limited perspectives in the exhibition,\u201d which staff claimed excluded Palestinians and the broader Arab and Muslim world communities. Staff left the exhibition when it opened and did not return until May 29. The museum remained closed for much of June.<\/p>\n \n \t\u201cWhile we acknowledge the damage caused by recent events, our goal is to move forward, share this important and timely exhibition with our community, and begin to heal together,\u201d the museum said in a June 28 statement.<\/p>\n \n \t“We will relaunch Together Against Hate as a united front. As always, we remain steadfast in our commitment to presenting a show that upholds the core message of Together Against Hate. We acknowledge that this work is challenging, but we learn from each other and recognize the complexity of this work. We ask for your continued tolerance and understanding as we move forward, and we extend our deepest gratitude to our community.”<\/p>\n \n \tMuseum spokesman Steve McLean said Emerald South Seattle<\/em>said staff and exhibition partners are continuing discussions on how to iterate at the new venue. <\/p>\n \n \t\u201cSince the exhibition closed, or was postponed, we\u2019ve spent a lot of time doing revision work, learning a lot, educating a lot of students, working with staff who have challenges and concerns,\u201d McLean said. \u201cWe\u2019ve really, really worked with our partners to not only revise and add panels, but also explain and outline what happened and why it happened. Essentially, we\u2019re making a much larger exhibition out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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