Nearly 30 Seattle museum staffers have shut down the art center in protest of its new “Confronting Hate Together’’ exhibit, claiming portions of the show “conflate anti-Zionism as antisemitism.”
The workers, who form about half of the staff at the Wing Luke Museum, stormed off the job Wednesday, the day the exhibit opened, forcing the site to close and vowing to remain on strike until their demands are met.
“Zionism has no place in our communities and being anti-Zionist goes hand in hand with our own liberation as AA/NHPI,” wrote the disgruntled staffers, who work at the only pan-Asian art and history museum in the United States. “Our solidarity with Palestine should be reflected in our AA/NHPI institutions.”
The 26 striking workers are demanding their employer remove any language from the exhibit that “attempt[s] to frame Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism as antisemitism,” acknowledge its “limited perspectives,” conduct a community review of it and “center voices and perspectives that align with the museum’s mission and values,” the group wrote on social media.
The exhibit is designed to explore anti-Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander hate, Black hate and anti-Jewish hate, according to the museum’s website. The show was supposed to run from Wednesday through June 30.
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