On 8/14/24, the Noguchi Museum in New York imposed a sudden ban prohibiting staff from wearing the keffiyeh, an important part of Palestinian cultural heritage. Despite objections from over two-thirds of staff, the Museum leadership has enforced its decision with threats and intimidation, undermining its stated commitment to a safe and inclusive workplace. The Director of Visitor Services, the only Middle Eastern director, was fired on 8/29/24. The next week, three gallery attendants who refused to remove their keffiyehs were also terminated.

With this blatantly anti-Palestinian policy, the Museum joins the Zionist efforts to criminalize Palestinian identity and silence criticism of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. The Museum’s complicity with Israel’s brutal occupation makes a mockery of the values of its founder, Isamu Noguchi, and does not represent the Museum staff or the wider community.

The disingenuous attempt to position the Museum as an apolitical “sanctuary” misrepresents the inextricable entwinement of culture and politics and does a disservice to Noguchi’s work itself, which was often overtly political in nature. The hypocrisy of banning the keffiyeh while the Museum continues to capitalize off of Noguchi’s political work is a gross injustice and represents a clear failure to protect and further the artist’s legacy.

The Museum’s actions are part of a long history of assaults on Palestinian culture across both Israel and the United States, from Israel’s renaming of depopulated Palestinian towns, banning of Palestinian cultural symbols, and ransacking of Palestinian cultural institutions to the widespread censorship of pro-Palestinian culture workers, cancellation of cultural events, and suppression of Palestinian solidarity in the United States. 

In light of the silencing of employees, it falls on us as members of the public to ensure that the Museum leadership is held to account and that the Museum remains committed to the values of social engagement and solidarity that are the responsibility of all genuine cultural institutions in times of humanitarian and political crisis. 

We call for the immediate revocation of the ban, the reversal of disciplinary measures against staff, and a reaffirmation of the Museum’s commitment to social justice as an integral part of Isamu Noguchi’s legacy. Let the Museum know that supporters of human and workers’ rights and lovers of the arts everywhere reject this racist policy and condemn the Museum’s shameful tactics of repression and intimidation against staff!

Other ways to support:

• Email the Museum at info@noguchi.org to express your opposition
• Take a selfie in the Noguchi Museum (or any museum!) wearing a keffiyeh and post to social media with the hashtag #PalestineIsInTheMuseum
• Follow @noguchirights on Instagram for updates and calls to action