Exhibiting Racism: The Role of Museums & Nonprofits in a White Supremacist System
It is clear that arts and culture organizations, nonprofits, and museums are going through a difficult time during Covid-19. Through this global crisis, I’ve heard people refer to racism as a pandemic, like it is an infection. When going unchecked, racism does indeed spread like a virus, though the source of it is not inherent in our biology; bigotry is a choice. In an age of mass consumption at your fingertips, it’s a conscious decision to remain in the dark. Racism is not a disease that happens upon us, it is a clear and present danger we choose. Almost every institution has succumbed to the societal norm of inequality in some form because racism is systemic and people committing racist actions are part of those systems every day. Unless an organization has consciously chosen to be anti-racist, they are by default participating by choosing ‘neutrality’ and complying with white centering practices. Whether it be preaching DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility), though not protecting BIPOC employees or guests, relying on the employees of color to perform emotional labor by assuming engagement in every hard conversation, or exhibiting stolen artifacts, there is so much to unpack.
Because white supremacy is so deeply ingrained in the foundation of the nonprofit complex, often hidden in plain sight for those who do not directly experience oppression, I’m writing this with focus on my personal experiences. I’m writing this to share openly and for full transparency, encouraged by others’ powerful and necessary words, such as Rea McNamara’s letter ‘Why Your Museum’s BLM Statement Isn’t Enough.’ I’m writing this in pursuit of change and refuting the idea that ‘going back to normal’ is a narrative written for all. I’m writing this influenced by hundreds of colleagues across the nation who have told their trauma at the hands of their institution. I’m writing this to continue healing and growth for myself and others.
As a white appearing, biracial Latinx woman, I have experienced my own and witnessed others’ white privilege. It has placed me in rooms where I may have not been invited and positions I may have not filled. It has also given me opportunities to call out injustice when it might not be expected or in rooms where it might’ve otherwise gone unnoticed — quiet and insidious like much of the racist policies across our nation. This is a responsibility I have not taken lightly, I choose to show up this way and invite others to do so and I know that it is because of my privilege that I even have a choice to begin with. It is a choice that takes time to understand and continuous practice to do well. Doing this work; to practice anti-racism, fight racial inequity, confront gender bias, revolutionize sexuality, and support accessibility for disabled folks, is not new to me. However, I acknowledge my understanding can deplete if I don’t make an effort to keep learning on my own, follow Black leadership, womxn of color, queer folks, disabled folks, and especially Black trans folks. In order to remain a consistent ally, continuous growth and willingness to acknowledge my own missteps and privilege are necessary.
Below are just a few examples of how I see and have experienced nonprofit organizations functioning within the structure of systemic racism. My hope is by sharing glaring clarity to those who are in positions of power, they will realize things have to change. My hope is to offer additional validation to those who have been actively disempowered in the museum community. To the latter, your experience is valid. You don’t deserve anything that has happened to you. And I’m sorry change is taking so long.
Racism in Hiring Practices, Meetings & Galas
As I mentioned in my last piece, Cultural Organizations, Career, & Love in the Time of Covid-19, the entry point into museums is typically a front-facing job like visitor services, the gift shop, or guest engagement like educators, docents, and guides. These positions are often part-time and seldom offer health benefits. Those guest-facing positions, the lowest paid and least protected, were the ones first sacrificed upon budget cuts. When an institution requires a master’s degree, the pool has already been slimmed and doesn’t take into account the many reasons why this would then only be applicable to the white and wealthy.
Last summer I worked at a zoo, planning for their annual gala. They outsourced their creative materials from a firm instead of tapping into their in-house team and including them in the process. The email came in with the proposed image invite. I grabbed the shoulder of a co-worker, astonished and left speechless; The image was an actual photograph taken in the 1920s of a real live chimp dressed up in a suit with a cane and top hat. What I saw was emphatically racist and completely detached from perspective. Not only was this in direct disregard with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ organizational protocol, which mandates to not anthropomorphize animals, it was also derivative of abusive and racist historical cartoons which caricaturize Black folks as monkeys as a way of depicting them as sub-human.
I entered the meeting with my resources and examples in hand. The Executive Director’s leadership style created an environment that treated competence as competition. This also means that for folks who do not have accessibility to certain socioeconomic circles or higher education, the bar is set that much higher and invisibly sets would-be colleagues miles apart in even being able to speak at their table. After an excruciatingly long discussion circling around why the topic was indeed racist in a room of white faces, I explained how this was unacceptable and there is no way to go forward with it. Her response was demeaning and similarly offensive. She went on a rant about a ‘Black boy that used to work at the zoo and posted on his Facebook about violence and showing horrible things, things that happened fifty years ago!” She went on about, ‘How is he angry over something that has nothing to do with him, what do you think about that, Ms. Social justice?’
Her digression in this conversation is known as red herring negation, which is used often to oppose by essentially tossing a verbal red herring to detract from the subject at hand, especially in disagreements about racism and the omniscient presence of it in all we do. At the time, I was so taken aback to be spoken to in such an antagonistic way, I sat stunned. Now, I realize she was using a red herring negation to get me off track and further her discriminatory agenda. Fortunately, the image was not used, though the second image, an illustration of a chimp wearing a fruit basket as a hat, was approved only by the Executive Director without the Advancement team’s thoughts.
After the meeting, one of my colleagues and confidants replied to my text, “Ms. Social Justice?! We take that as a compliment and wear it as a badge of honor, thank you very much!” This lightened the shame and embarrassment I felt. My friends and I joke about the name and say it in jest now. But even a year later, it brings up a lot of anxiety and sadness when I think about that meeting.
My thesis in graduate school, Rocking the Boat: Exhibition Methods of Storytelling the Experience of Gender & Sexuality in Museums, I studied the idealized possibilities of what museums can be; vessels of cultural preservation that rise and fall with their community, like a boat atop water. It can get tumultuous by pressure made in societal shifts that causes waves, the organization must then ride with the community and rise to the occasion. This analogy has continued to be pertinent when put into action. In this instance, I felt like the wave I created had worked. I had made a change. But in turn, I began to be ignored in emails and meetings. I can attest that rocking the boat, questioning the establishment, and voicing inequities in the workplace have at times felt like I was on a sinking ship. This is how white supremacy acts in quiet ways, all of those who are oppressed know they are not in power, but all of those who do hold power continue in ignorance.
Racism in Naming
Things really came to a head when I read the name of the soon-to-be open giraffe barn. A name decided in a meeting of white leadership, with no one present with nearly the amount of cultural competency training that I have, and not a single person with any sort of deep understanding or relation to Africa. They simply went on Google for a translation. The administrative assistant, new to the organization, asked in the meeting if this was appropriate for a group of only white people to be deciding on an African name with no association or guidance. She and I were both laid off soon after. To emphasize how insensitive and thoughtless this decision was, the social media announcement that came out months later did not say which African nation’s language the barn title came from or why it was chosen. This further illustrates the ingrained white supremacy and disillusion that white people can take whatever they want, whenever they want, and continue as if it is theirs without accountability.
Racism in Firing
The Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) works to help build a more socially just world by supporting the well-being of community organizations in Québec. They developed this map titled, The “Problem” Woman of Colour in the Workplace. This has been a lot of my journey in and out of organizations as a white-appearing biracial woman who actively practices anti-racism. I want to assume my BIPOC Womxn/femme-identifying colleagues might have treaded in similar, and certainly choppier waters. Though some have accused me of ‘jumping ship’ from organization to organization. That is not the way I saw it as I turned in resignations or how I have felt leaving positions. It was the only option after being gaslit and ignored — the other option being to stifle myself in these toxic organizations. I refuse to be a silent passenger on a vessel of oppression.
What Anti-Racist & Racist Exhibits Look Like
There is an appropriate way to address racism in museums and exhibitions, I’ve seen it done during my work at The Wing Luke Museum. When executed well, the majority of the decision makers should be of the race and culture being shared. Their choices will appropriately position the collection to address and teach. Exhibiting racism does not have anything to do with acquiring and preserving confederate statues. There is plenty to show and tell when referencing that history, good riddance to the ones left standing. Exhibitions are investments, they are representations and an agreement with the topic and community at hand. They are not solely preservations of the past; they are present-day statements on what we want our future to be as well. As a country we are well overdue for investing in communities of color, disabled, and queer communities, so investing in exhibits that focus on these communities is the least this sector can do.
The placement and treatment of collections is an unobstructed view of a museum’s understanding of race and racism. A way to quickly identify if the museum is upholding white supremacy can be seen most often in cultures being ‘lumped’ together. For example, the Brooklyn Museum (and many other art institutions) have galleries dedicated to Egyptian Art, but African Art is one exhibition. This compartmentalizes entire nations of different cultures and languages due to white-dominated education on skin color.
An article in the New York Times asked this question about Indigenous Australian art, “Can we stop pigeonholing contemporary Indigenous art as a critique or an exception to the settler “mainstream,” and start appreciating it on its own terms?” (Farago, 2019). Conversely, at Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, there is a ‘Northwest Gallery’ with Dale Chihuly’s glass work from the 1970’s and his collections. Included are prints of Edward Curtis’ portraits of Native Americans ranging from the Southwest to Alaska, Pendleton blankets, and Northwest Native woven baskets from many different tribes throughout the region. There isn’t one label specifically about the collections, and no protection from light or guest’s hands. Completely disregarding the work that went into these artifacts and furthering the narrative that anything created by a person of color is accessible for taking. During my work there, I was able to get approval for some signage and wayfinding in the galleries. This was proposed in hopes to protect the art and the guest experience, even if it was only a small shield.
If it sounds like I’m mad, if this reads like I’m disheartened — I am, I’m furious and frustrated. I’m angry that the nonprofit complex is indeed broken, that there are folks actively upholding and benefiting from its brokenness at the expense of BIPOC, queer, and disabled folks. The inability to address hierarchical issues from the top down is reminiscent of another structure also currently in question. If you have read through this and feel equally furious and frustrated, know that I am with you. If you have read this and feel guilt or shame, I leave you with this:
Dr. Kelli Morgan’s (2020) recent piece left me in awe and appreciation:
Through very deliberate racist and sexist practices of acquisition, deaccession, exhibition, and art-historical analysis, museums have decisively produced the very state of exclusion that publicly engaged art historians and curators (including myself) are currently working hard to dismantle. What we do not speak honestly enough about are the very distinct ways in which racism and sexism are utilized to traumatize us and oftentimes undermine our work — the very work that our respective institutions claim they want — and often recruit us to do.
I’ve been enthused by dedicated professionals, my network, and complete strangers on Twitter. This new willingness to confront shadowed halls and light the way for transparency, I direly hope brings change. Even in the most beautiful places there are dark corners, it just took a pandemic to expose them. Black lives matter and museums have a part to play that must go beyond performative statements and show up as anti-racist policies and practices. So, what’s your move?
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Complete Works Cited
Abdul-Alim, Jamaal S. (2016, Feb. 28). Comparing black people to monkeys has a long, dark simian history. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102. Accessed on 21 July 2020.
C-Grimey. (2020, June 22). Why Liberal Leaning Cities in the South are Breeding Grounds for Bigotry. Medium. Retrieved from https://link.medium.com/Ry3lzuiTF7. Accessed on 1 July 2020.
COCo (the Centre for Community Organizations). (2018, March). The “Problem” Woman of Colour in the Workplace. COCo. Retrieved from https://coco-net.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/WoC-in-Organizations-Tool-FINAL-EN.pdf. Accessed on 24 June 2020.
Department of Philosophy. Texas State University. Red Herring. Retrieved from https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/RedHerring.html#:~:text=Fallacies%20Red%20Herring-,Red%20Herring,surface%20relevance%20to%20the%20first. Accessed on 1 July 2020.
Farago, Jason. (2019, May 17). Can We Start Appreciating Indigenous Art on Its Own Terms? What Australia’s Aboriginal artists and filmmakers are teaching Americans in two radiant shows. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/arts/design/aboriginal-art-australia.html. Accessed on 24 June 2020.
McNamara, Rea. (2020, June 9). Why Your Museum’s BLM Statement Isn’t Enough. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@rea.mcnamara/why-your-museums-blm-letter-isn-t-enough-33841b31b9ae. Accessed on 22 June 2020.
Morgan, Dr. Kelli. (2020, June 24). To Bear Witness: Real Talk about White Supremacy in Art Museums Today. Burnaway. Retrieved from https://burnaway.org/to-bear-witness/. Accessed on 24 June 2020.
Olivo, Sarah. (2015, Sept. 25). Rocking the Boat: Exhibition Methods of Storytelling the Experience of Gender & Sexuality in Museums. Queering the Museum Project. Retrieved from https://queeringthemuseum.org/2015/09/25/rocking-the-boat-exhibition-methods-of-storytelling-the-experience-of-gender-sexuality-in-museums/. Accessed on 1 July 2020.
Robertson, Geoffrey. (2020, June 11). It’s time for museums to return their stolen treasures. CNN Style. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/style/article/return-stolen-treasures-geoffrey-robertson/index.html. Accessed on 23 June 2020.
Stevens, Sabrina Joy. (2019, Mar. 28). Red Hats in the Black Museum: On teachable moments in troubled times. Medium. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@realsabijoy/red-hats-in-the-black-museum-fccc58013d09. Accessed on 6 June 2020.
Taylor, Joshua. (2017, Aug. 12). White Museum, Black Lives. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@Joshua_Taylor/white-museum-black-lives-7901185b65c6. Accessed on 23 June 2020.
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Exhibits, 2020. http://www.wingluke.org/exhibits/. Accessed on 2 July 2020.
