Open Letter Condemning MOCA’s Endorsement of a Culture of Sexual Harassment
October 31, 2021
Dear MOCA Board and Staff,
While you as an institution try to convince the public that your museum’s expansion is somehow necessary to bring an end to anti-Asian violence, we see firsthand the culture of violence and disregard your museum creates and perpetuates. On July 18, 2021, your venue manager assaulted a young female protester. The perpetrator grabbed a young woman picketer by her bare waist, following her refusal to answer his heckles. He then told a reporter who questioned him about it that her “derriere was dangerously close to my face.” There are no circumstances that would make it acceptable to grab and push and lay hands on the body of anyone, let alone a white man doing this to a young woman.
You did nothing that day, you did not acknowledge the harm caused, and you did not hold your employee accountable for his actions. Instead, you emboldened your employee, encouraged him to sit outside the museum and harass peaceful protesters, who are simply ensuring our community’s voice is heard.
You have only enabled assault and aggression to escalate.
On October 20 at 12:45pm EST, the same perpetrator, who goes by the name Jefferey Reynolds, located the same young woman’s private, personal social media account and sent her several intimidating messages, even suggesting that he knew where she lived.
The fact that the young woman’s name was nowhere to be found in previous coverage, as the reporter gave her anonymity, suggests that it would have required the perpetrator to spend hours stalking and tracking the young woman down on the Internet. This is unacceptable, shameful behavior.
Reynolds’ repeated assaults were committed in his capacity as a MOCA staff member and are symptomatic of MOCA’s toxic institutional culture. His behavior towards the community for the past months has been disgustingly racist and sexist, including waving at and belittling the predominantly Asian-American women picketers, berating them as “silly little girls”.
How can you claim to be known by some as “for the community,” when you actively foster a culture of unabashed harassment — whether by insulting Chinese immigrant seniors or assaulting Asian youth and women?
We demand that you, MOCA board and staff, take full responsibility for the trauma done to the community by immediately stopping the practice and culture of sexual harassment that you have maintained, and by making a public statement of apology to put an end to the heckling, harassing, grabbing, and cyper-stalking.
We also demand that the Museum leadership, including President Nancy Yao and Board Co-Chair Jonathan Chu, be accountable for the culture they have created among their employees — one that breeds an environment of hostility and violence.
We call on institutions like yours to stop your racist, sexist outlook and wrongdoings against the Chinatown and LES community immediately, especially as the petition to protect Chinatown and LES gathers more than 4,000 signatures both online and on paper.
Sincerely,
Youth Against Displacement
