By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
The Black Heritage Society of Washington State, The Washington State Jewish Historical Society, and The Wing Luke Museum jointly announced a thought-provoking exhibit titled “Confronting Hate Together.” The exhibit, which opens on May 24, will be on display at the Wing Luke Museum through June 30.
“Confronting Hate Together” is an ambitious and timely initiative that contains traveling panels from previous exhibits, paired with localized responses from the three different organizations today. Created from a mutual commitment to unity, solidarity, and action, “Confronting Hate Together” fosters conversations about hate, bigotry, antisemitism, racism, and proposes practical and accessible tools to inspire communities to collaborate locally to further a more inclusive and compassionate community.
According to Lisa Kranseler, Executive Director of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, the exhibit seeks to educate communities about the rising trends of hate and racial violence in our communities today.
“’Confronting Hate Together’ was inspired by a 2022 exhibit curated by the New York Historical Society, which was the ‘Confronting Hate 1937-1952’ exhibit. That exhibit itself was inspired by the American Jewish Committee’s groundbreaking multimedia campaign from 1937-1952, which attempted to fight growing antisemitism alongside other forms of hate against marginalized communities before, during, and after the Holocaust,” says Kranseler. “And the ‘Confronting Hate Together’ exhibit borrows elements of that program to create a contemporary portrayal of racism, antisemitism, hate, and bigotry.”
By working together and looking at common struggles that each community has faced in the past and the present, Cassie Chinn, Deputy Executive Director of the Wing Luke Museum, believes that together the “Confronting Hate Together” exhibit will shine a light on the many forms of hate.
“What makes the exhibit unique is that rather than take one point of view about the issue, the joint nature of the exhibit weaves the stories of three different local communities facing the common challenge of hate, racism and antisemitism,” says Chinn. “Many of the struggles across all communities are still very common today, and the exhibit’s main goal is to educate the community, empower, and inspire them to co-create strategies to fight these issues.”
The process of creating the “Confronting Hate Together” exhibit took over 18 months of collaborating ideas and addressing issues that each member of the team has encountered within their communities, to help achieve a single approach to confront hate together in the region.
“Our organizations have been meeting monthly, if not more, to jointly plan the project,” says Chinn. “From our core team, we expanded to bring on two research interns, Sha’Niya Black and Daniel Sauter, and three writers from within our respective communities, Nance Adler, LeiLani Nishime, and Jackie Peterson. Jeff Schwager was also brought on as our editor and podcast producer, along with Kamna Shastri as our podcast engineer, and Marie T. Kidhe for additional communication and partnership outreach support. Each organization took the lead on providing a response to the original exhibit, through three additional pop-up exhibit panels.”
In addition to the exhibit next week, the organizations are launching a four-part “Confronting Hate Together” podcast series that will be launched on YouTube on or before the opening of the exhibit, and a digital museum exhibit to cater to those who cannot attend.
“The four-part series is more an oral history than a podcast,” says Chinn. “The oral history will be included in the exhibit’s digital museum, which will enable community members unable to attend the exhibit to have the opportunity to experience it. The first oral history will focus on the ‘Confronting Hate Together’ exhibit, the impetus for the project, and what it hopes to accomplish. Each of the three remaining oral histories will feature interviews with leaders in the Jewish, Asian American Pacific Islander, and Black communities and highlight the unique perspectives of each in their common struggle, with some focus on the distinctive tactics they used to fight discrimination.”
While global events are on the minds of all, the ability to affect change starts locally, and the exhibit, digital exhibit, and podcast series will serve as a mode of inspiration for those it directly impacts.
“Our work can be a model, as an inspiration for different groups working together who find out that they are truly the same and are experiencing identical challenges that can be supported through mutual understanding, compassion, and unity above all,” says Kranseler.
While this initiative is inspired by the organization’s mutual commitment and dedication to the issue, their work does not end there, as public programs and community pop-up installations are being developed to help raise awareness and educate communities.
“Our work is on unification,” says Kransler. “For us, it is not enough to shine a light on hate, but to promote conversations about hate, antisemitism, bigotry, and racism in supportive settings, while offering visitors the tools to act on their learning.”
“Numerous statistics clearly show that the struggles of each of these communities continue. Yet, we can see examples of resilience and response across communities, which we hope will further inspire action. We hope to shine a light on examples from the past and present, and hope that our collective action together follows in the footsteps of those before us,” says Chinn.