May 31, 2024

Much of our communal attention in the last two weeks has been focused on the Wing Luke Museum. Over the last two years, the Wing Luke partnered with the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, and the Black Heritage Society to create an exhibit titled “Confronting Hate Together” about the experience of those three communities, who were all the victims of redlining in Seattle’s history. And yet, last week, as the exhibit prepared to open, the Wing Luke shut down because approximately half of the museum staff walked off the job in protest of “Zionist language” in the exhibit and the fact that other communities were not included in the exhibit.

Along with the Federation’s JCRC team, I have spent significant time navigating this issue over the last two weeks, and yesterday, a joint statement was put out from all three partner organizations of the exhibit announcing plans to open the exhibit and reopen the museum.

While I welcome the resolution that the exhibit will reopen, this entire episode has caused deep pain for the Jewish community and illuminated, once again, the significant need for broad communal education. 

This is an exhibit about confronting hate in Washington and the history of hate three local minority communities have experienced. Yet, the language from the protesting Wing Luke staff was deeply hurtful. In one of their Instagram posts, the Wing Luke staff who walked out said: “Zionism has no place in our communities.”

Approximately 90% of Jews in the world are Zionists. To be Zionist means to believe that Jews have a right to self-determination – to have a state – in some portion of their ancestral homeland. To be clear: Zionism does not mean that Palestinians don’t also have a right to self-determination, and Zionism does not mean blanket support for the Israeli government. But when Jews read language like the language in the Wing Luke staff Instagram, the message it sends is clear: Jews are not welcome here in Seattle. When someone says that they don’t want Zionists in “our communities”, what they are saying, intentionally or not, is they don’t want 90% of Jews. That sort of rhetoric is flagrant antisemitism.

I hope that many people in our broader community will attend the exhibit when it reopens because the need for a conversation about confronting hate has never been more needed than now. And, I hope that our Jewish community turns out strongly to both support the Historical Society but also to take the time to learn about the hate other groups in our community have experienced and to offer our communal support and efforts for a better tomorrow.

In addition to the Wing Luke Museum, we have been focused on the University of Washington campus. While the announcement of the disbandment of the encampment two weeks ago was welcome, many in our community retain grave concerns about the agreement the University made with the groups in the encampment to bring it to an end. The impacts of the encampment and the University’s handling of the situation have ripple effects across the Puget Sound Region — far beyond the campus, including further normalizing ideas that undermine Jewish inclusion and safety.  

Over the last two weeks, I have been in touch directly with the leadership of UW, in partnership with other Jewish leaders. Together, we’ve had positive conversations with them and hope UW leadership will soon take clear, tangible steps to protect the Jewish community on campus. 

I am grateful for our community’s engagement on both issues. Collectively, the leadership of the “Confronting Hate Together” exhibit and the UW leadership have received thousands of emails from the Jewish community and our allies. I wish we weren’t navigating challenges that required such broad communal pressure, but I am grateful for our community’s efforts to call on organizations and leaders to do the right thing in calling out antisemitism and protecting the Jewish community. Thank you!

The Federation will continue being engaged on these issues and others, and standing up for our Jewish community – it’s more critical than ever now.

Shabbat Shalom,

Solly Kane, President & CEO
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle