Washington State Jewish Historical Society to Go Alone in 'Confronting Hate Together' Exhibit

by Nimra Ahmad

The exhibit that sparked the walkout of nearly half of Wing Luke Museum's staff in protest of what they called Zionist language will no longer be jointly presented by the museum, Black Heritage Society (BHS), and the Washington State Jewish Historical Society (WSJHS) as originally planned.

WSJHS announced Aug. 8 that it will be moving forward with presenting the exhibit alongside the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in an event next month.

The walkout took place on May 22 in response to language in an exhibit entitled "Confronting Hate Together," which sought to focus on the activism in response to discrimination and hate faced by Seattle's Black, Asian, and Jewish communities. Protesting staff said a panel in the exhibit conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

Staff returned to work on May 29, and the organizers said they were working to make additions to the exhibit and clarify its language.

Last week, WSJHS announced that it will no longer be partnering with Wing Luke and BHS to present the exhibit.

"Immense harm has been caused to the Jewish community by not being able to show the exhibit," reads an Aug. 8 statement from WSJHS. "The anti-Jewish ideas and attitudes that fueled the WLM employee walkout (whether conscious or not) have yet to be adequately acknowledged. And, at the same time, the greater Seattle community will be deprived of an important cross-cultural educational opportunity."

Steve McLean, Wing Luke Museum's director of communications, said he was not privy to the decision being made.

"[The exhibit was] designed to bring communities together, yet it seems that the desire to proceed is probably predicated on wanting to get their own truth out," McLean said.

McLean said the "spirit of what the exhibit was meant to do was not lost," and that the spirit of confronting hate continues to be present in Wing Luke's work. "We're still trying to process what happened," he said.

A statement on the Wing Luke Museum website wished the WSJHS well in proceeding with the exhibit.

"We regret that the partnership was not able to move forward, though we invested ourselves diligently in the process," the statement read. "We extend our immense gratitude to the Washington State Jewish Historical Society and the Black Heritage Society of Washington State for their partnership."

Calls to the Black Heritage Society of Washington State were not returned. "Antisemitism today is at its highest levels in over 40 years, and more allyship is needed to help meet the moment," the WSJHS statement read. "We need partners who are stakeholders in the safety and well-being of the Jewish people and who stand with us even when it gets hard. Ironically, in an exhibit that was supposed to be about coming together to confront hate, hate has won."

A digital exhibit for "Confronting Hate Together" is live now on WSJHS's website, and more details are coming on when it will be physically displayed.

📸 Featured Image: Looking down the main staircase of the Wing Luke Museum, June 22, 2008. Photo is attributed to Joe Mabel (under a Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 license).