The principle entrance of the Whitney Museum of American Artwork was doused with pretend blood throughout a march for Gaza in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, November 22.
A video posted online by the Palestinian-American youth motion Inside Our Lifetime exhibits the aftermath of the motion: purple paint dripping from the museum’s entrance steps and revolving glass door whereas a mass of protesters is seen waving Palestine flags within the close to distance. No arrests have been reported.
In line with Inside Our Lifetime, protesters shouted “Ken Griffin is a terrorist,” focusing on an American hedge fund billionaire who sat on the museum’s board of trustees till July this yr (his identify remains to be on the partitions of the museum’s foyer). The Whitney Museum has not returned Hyperallergic‘s request for remark.
Griffin was a vocal critic of a recent pro-Palestinian letter signed by a coalition of pupil teams at his alma mater, Harvard College. The Citadel CEO, who’s value some $34 billion in response to Forbes, is likely one of the Ivy League college’s largest donors. In April, Harvard named its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after Griffin, acknowledging his $300 million reward. In whole, he has given the varsity over $500 million since his commencement in 1989.
In 2019, the Whitney’s vice chair, arms producer Warren Kanders, resigned after months of protests in opposition to his firm’s involvement with the usage of tear fuel in opposition to civilians worldwide, together with asylum seekers on the US-Mexico border, as Hyperallergic revealed in a 2018 report. (He has since announced divesting his firm, Safariland Group, from divisions that promote tear fuel and riot gear). Again then, Griffin reportedly threatened to resign from the museum’s board in solidarity together with his fellow billionaire trustee, however finally determined to remain; that’s till his quiet departure this summer time.
Griffin can also be a prolific donor to Republicans, doling out $5 million to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s political motion committee (PAC) in 2021, and tens of millions more to other conservative candidates.
“We now demand that Ken Griffin resign or be expelled from the board instantly! There may be blood on the palms of the Whitney museum,” wrote Inside Our Lifetime on Instagram. One commenter famous that Griffin had already stepped down, however urged trying into different hedge fund billionaires who’re nonetheless on the board.
“The higher transfer right here is to vet your entire board and throw leaflets of your entire listing of shitty ones on the steps together with the blood,” the commenter wrote.