Waking Up to Wokeness (Actually, “Woke” is Over, It’s Time to Do the Work): An Open Letter to Museum Peers

Dear Museum Peers:

Over the course of the past few weeks museums have entered (read: tripped, stumbled, belly- flopped) into a several decades-old discourse on the role of race in American society. I should correct, *some* museums have just discovered that racism still dictates American society. Many culturally-specific museums have been engaged since their foundings. For those museums and museum workers who are just waking up, this one’s for you.

So, you’ve just discovered racism continues to be the defining characteristic of American social systems and museums are included in those systems. Great! That’s Step 1.

Now you may be noticing some complex, nuanced discourse that is new to you. It is not new to those who have been doing this work (ignored by yourself and those like you) for years.

So let’s be clear. You are on Step 1, the field is on Step 10, and the rest of us are on Step 50. (Notice the potential for conflict here.)

You have woken up not at the start of a revolution, but in the middle. And you need to catch up. Fast.

But while you’re catching up (i.e. reading Critical Race Theory, Incluseum, MASS Action Toolkit, and antiracist theory, and many, many more) ask yourself: Am I the leadership we need right now?

Chances are if all of this feels new, then you are not yet equipped to lead the field into the next chapter of this revolution.

And that’s ok.

For far too long our field has been led exclusively by white, cisgenered, male, privileged, overly educated, wealthy, elite, upperclass, heteronormative, abelist, colonist gatekeepers. This may feel like charged language, but museums have existed as gatekeepers since their inception.

What happens is our museums reflect our leadership. So while we preach inclusivity we are in actuality white, cisgenered, male, privileged, overly educated, wealthy, elite, upperclass, heteronormative, abelist, colonizers.

It is time for new leadership. And not just copies of our old leadership, otherwise completely privileged but in black and brown shades. I, myself, fall into a lot of these categories. We all have to be honest with ourselves and our organizations about our own privilege and how our privilege is holding our institutions back from progress.

This is not a hostile takeover. Too many of us have lost jobs in COVID, notably, a disproportionate number of BIPOC and front of house workers. We’re not advocating for more mass firings. But it’s time to restructure. Serve your institution in the best ways you can. And make space for others to lead the fight against racial injustice.

This is going to be uncomfortable. It’s going to hurt. But we have to do the work.

Disruptively yours, Kayleigh