Contact: Sara Fredman Aeder                                                                            For Immediate Release
[email protected]                                                                                              June 5, 2024

Brooklyn Organizations, Community Leaders Condemn
May 31st Vandalism & Harassment at the Brooklyn Museum

We, religious, cultural and community leaders in Central Brooklyn, are deeply disheartened and concerned about the events that took place at the Brooklyn Museum on Friday, May 31st.  Over 1,000 protesters took over the main entrance, lobby and outdoor plaza of the museum. Exterior artwork was desecrated with hateful messages, including Deborah Kass’s beloved public sculpture outside the Brooklyn Museum’s main entrance, OY/YO (2015).

The OY/YO sculpture is intended to honor the surrounding neighborhoods' harmonious mix of different faiths and cultures. As the artist herself said when the piece was commissioned, “I created OY/YO thinking about the American promise of equality and fairness…with hate and division now on the rise, it is urgent to see our commonalities, what we share, and what brings us together.” OY/YO is a precious symbol to thousands of people and reflects the diversity of our borough, something we all cherish.

The protestors who chose to desecrate and destroy works of art, as well as frighten and harass museum workers, visitors and community members, showed deep disrespect for what the Museum stands for- highlighting cross-cultural perspectives and bringing people together through art.

We support the right to peacefully protest. However, desecrating art that celebrates our borough’s diversity and taking over cultural institutions cannot be considered peaceful and must not be the way to engage in protest in our city. We condemn these violent actions in the strongest possible terms.

The Brooklyn Museum epitomizes the kind of place where people can come together in dialogue and celebrate Brooklyn’s diversity. Desecrating Brooklyn’s art and vandalizing an iconic museum does not serve to bring people together across lines of difference; it creates more division and stands against our shared values of community and connection.  We call on our elected officials and community partners to stand with us in condemning these acts, and we thank those who have already spoken out against this attack on our values.

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman
Jewish Future Alliance, Crown Heights 

JJ Berney
Community Lay Leader, Park Slope

David Bryfman
CEO, The Jewish Education Project

Rabbi Carie Carter
Park Slope

Sue Fox

Shorefront Y

Cindy Greenberg
Community Lay Leader, Park Slope

Joni Kletter

Park Slope's Jewish Affinity Group

Nicole Nash
Head of School at Hannah Senesh Community Day School

Leonard Petlakh
Executive Director, Kings Bay Y and JCC Brooklyn

John Rankin
Head of Poly Prep Country Day School

Rebecca Saidlower
Executive Director, Community Mobilizers and UJA Brooklyn  

Andrés Spokoiny
President, Jewish Funders Network 

Mark Treyger
CEO, Jewish Community Relations Council of New York

Pastor Alex Williams

Institutional Church of God, Brooklyn

JCRC-NY builds relationships to advance the values, interests and security of the New York Jewish community and to create a more interconnected New York for all.  Visit jcrcny.org for more information.

###