It was reported in The Seattle Times on Friday, September 13, 2023, that the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle was vandalized in an apparent hate crime directed against people of Asian descent.
SPSI deplores this attack. Hate crimes and racial attacks should not be tolerated, excused or ignored by any of us, and people in charge of managing public safety should act swiftly to bring perpetrators of these intolerable acts to justice. Someone calling for assistance should not have to justify their need for police intervention, as hate crimes often do not stop at property damage. Human lives are their ultimate target, and ignoring or minimizing events like this leaves them to escalate and puts people in danger.
We encourage you to donate to Wing Luke, join the museum as a member, and reach out to your elected leaders at the State, County, and City levels to urge them to take situations such as this one seriously.
The Wing Luke Museum is a museum in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District which focuses on the culture, art and history of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Established in 1967, the museum is a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and the only pan-Asian Pacific American community-based museum in the United States.