October 10th, 2020

Dear Stephen,

Since our initial Open Letter on August 10, 2020, we have collected nearly 200 testimonials from The National WWII Museum’s current employees, former employees, volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. We are again attempting to open connection, providing you with updates to Dismantle National WWII Museum’s demands, and reiterating why it is crucial for this Museum to publicly state Black Lives Matter and initiate supporting changes.

Why is it important for The National WWII Museum to make a statement on Black Lives Matter?

We know that our freedoms do not come without cost, and it is a constant battle to sustain and expand civil rights to all people. Black Lives Matter is here to hold the 21st century United States accountable for the sins of the past, the persistence of systemic prejudices, and the assertion of legal rights obtained by the fights of the generations before us. The Dismantle community supports those efforts, and we are here to hold you accountable. To receive The National WWII Museum’s embrace of Black Lives Matter, the American people will witness your participation in this progressive and tumultuous time in world history and your commitment to ensure the acknowledgement, value, security, and success for all lives from this moment forward.

Successful execution of a solution is unattainable until you have acknowledged that there is a problem. In recent months, the Museum has updated their programming to highlight POC experiences during WWII in higher frequencies than ever before. To our knowledge, these modifications were solidified without any clear explanation to the public as to why these changes were put into effect. The entire community deserves knowledge of why these changes were made, not just your employees. The time has come for the National WWII Museum to practice public transparency to fulfill the values highlighted in their mission. It requires less effort to highlight and correct histories already written than it does to take responsibility and accountability for future mistakes. Both are needed to ensure unfavorable areas of history do not repeat themselves. The WWII Museum’s ongoing denial of their part in the silencing of POC experiences shows complacency with the systemic, nation-wide proliferation of white-centrism, racism, male supremacy, and devalues the groundbreaking efforts made by all under-represented Americans: the African Americans fighting for Double Victory, Japanese Americans fighting for a country that treated them as the enemy, Indigenous peoples fighting for a nation that took their sovereignty, and women joining the WWII effort.

The Museum is attacking its own history lessons by remaining silent in the midst of social revolution. At the heart of this movement is the idea that people’s experiences and voices matter. Our community’s testimonials reveal the contradictions and sustainment of exclusionary practices our nation’s citizens have already fought for - and received judicial protections against - through your continued employee mistreatment, the refusals of responsibility and acknowledgement, and the professional advancements of unqualified administrators in the museum. Yet, here we are still fighting for those freedoms referenced in FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech, the same speech you promote in your exhibits, but ignore in policy. We demand the National World War II Museum honor the words and actions of FDR to remove barriers so we can enjoy our freedoms, obtain success, and move towards creating a democracy for all as a rejection of old-world, patriarchal systems.

In the three months of our Dismantle campaign, we claim two victories for the National WWII Museum community.

First, we have provided the opportunity for Museum employees to be seen, heard, and believed. We know you are viewing our accounts daily and reading the shared experiences of our community. That, in itself, is a ground-breaking effort, as The National WWII Museum has not fostered any equitable opportunity for your employees to speak.

Secondly, we expressed our demands, and have seen one of our initial demands met: The National WWII Museum has revealed the member demographics of the current Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work team, so we can judge the team reflection on diversity, equity, and inclusion for the community of stakeholders. We now know the composition of this work team, and we see the Museum’s act of transparency to share the work team’s identities with its employees.

Two victories are not enough for DismantleNWWIIM to conclude our efforts. There is still work to be done. Our efforts towards change may seem small, but with the support of Dismantle comrades around the country, our united voice reaches museum stakeholders worldwide. So let us remind you why Dismantle is here: We would not exist if The National WWII Museum was actively leading and acting in a manner that ensures the values and integrity of the freedoms fought for during World War II, and reflecting how those supposed freedoms are experienced today.

The Dismantle Community believes freedom from inequality is worth the fight. Our connection is our shared witness and experience of the discrepancies existing within the museum’s mission, policies, and actions. We are united in our frustration of the National World War II Museum’s silence, and the knowledge the history you disseminate does not reflect in your practices. As museum workers, we are educated in current practices and standards, as well as witnesses to the Greatest Generation’s sacrifices and traumas. As workers of the 21st century, we demand the same acknowledgement, honor, and value for our work.

We demand the Museum identify, acknowledge, and respond to its weaknesses; take responsibility for its failures to live up to its ideals; build an institution that responsibly represents the diverse personal experiences of its subjects and staff; bear responsibility to all people affected by World War II; and recreate itself into a landmark expression of the values fought for in World War II. We demand implementation through statements on current events, community engagement, and action towards equality - throughout our nation and within the Museum, as an institution and employer.

We have exposed a fraction of the unequal and unethical practices of the Museum’s administration. Our front is direct action in support of employee welfare, acknowledgement of all lives by stating that Black Lives Matter, and the demand for true representation in the Museum’s Board of Trustees and Executive team. We further demand the Board and Executive team move from positions of injustice to equality and equity. We believe that The National WWII Museum is well aware of history, has a responsibility to it, and is capable of setting the example for equality and diversity in its practices.

At this moment, we insist The National WWII Museum be aware of the historic forces at hand. Today, the Museum has the opportunity to implement practices to better express its stated mission and set the standard for future generations. It is a teaching moment of why history matters. More so than any other institution in the world, The National WWII Museum stands as a national symbol, is perceived to be experts in disseminating information about WWII, and has been tasked to carry out its legacy. Those who gave their lives fighting against oppression, racism, and discrimination - in its many forms - deserve to be honored in an institution that honors their sacrifices, acknowledges imperfections, and elevates itself to high standards of integrity, excellence, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are giving The National WWII Museum the opportunity to be a leader in the museum world. We see their continuation of discriminatory and unethical practices that can no longer be tolerated in today’s world.

For your convenience, we are including our demands as an attachment. We demand a response and invitation for a meeting by October 31st.

We do not want the existing NWWIIM to be our legacy. We are hereby holding you to a higher standard.

Sincerely,

The Dismantle National World War II Museum Community

DEMANDS OF THE DISMANTLE

NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM COMMUNITY

OPERATING BOARD OF TRUSTEES AT THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM

To ensure the representation of the American experience, its people, and their histories, we demand that The National WWII Museum’s operating Board of Trustees reflect the diversity of our nation’s peoples by securing seats for BIPOC, women, and minorities to permanently be at the helm of decision making.

• We demand inclusion: the NWWIIM implements a new recruitment process, along with reduction in the $10k annual gift they must make to maintain their membership, to help diversify the Board of Trustees.

• We demand action: the NWWIIM issues an action-plan to diversify leadership positions.

• We demand acknowledgement: a public apology from the National WWII Museum for sustaining a discriminatory and toxic work environment amongst its staff, visitors, and supporters

We believe The National WWII Museum has an obligation to liberate the voices denied representation by ensuring all levels of staff are present and empowered in decision making, especially when it impacts the dissemination of World War II narratives and memory, and the treatment of employees working to honor those remembrances.

EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES OF THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM

We demand The National WWII Museum holds itself accountable to ensure the freedom from inequality and discrimination while setting a standard for how non-profit and museum workplaces engage its operational practices to better protect and foster those freedoms too often denied.

• We demand economic security: an equitable redistribution of departmental and staff wages that include a permanent policy to entail all employees make a starting living wage of $15/hr or higher.

• We demand accountability: a mandatory, formal, independent investigation into all complaints made to HR and museum leadership regarding BIPOC, LGBTQ+ bias, gender bias, and sexual harassment.

• We demand safety: the NWWIIM implements a safe and unbiased system for reporting workplace discrimination and racial bias to be evaluated externally by a council composed of independent BIPOC and LGBTQ stakeholders.

The National WWII Museum denies current employees any opportunity to have their voices heard and personal experiences acknowledged in a manner allowing any contribution to changes within their work environments. Individual employees are subjected to annual reviews mandated by management without any formal opportunity for employees to review their managers in return. That single-sided reflection reveals the Museum currently has no interest in hearing the voices of those lacking power, or including them in decision making. Testimonials collected by DismantleNWIIM are an archive of employees’ realities and how the administration has failed to set reputable standards, protocols, and commitments to the values the Museum celebrates and seeks to preserve for future generations.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

We demand that The National WWII Museum issues a statement on Black Lives Matter.

Nearly four months into the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Museum still has not made a statement acknowledging the social upheavals through direct correlations to history, nor have they given explicit statements of how the histories, stories, and artifacts preserved within the Museum relates to this current movement. The lack of acknowledgement fails the people of the United States and dismisses contributions of minorities who served during World War II from the home front to the battlefields, the residents of New Orleans, La (a predominantly Black city), and its own employees. Your silence further devalues the history within the museum’s exhibits, specifically, Fighting for the Right to Fight: The African American Experience During World War II. Everyday we wait for The National WWII Museum to acknowledge Black Lives Matter, it reinforces our doubts the Congressionally-designated national institution truly seeks to instill the lessons and history on display. Your silence strengthens our convictions The National WWII Museum currently serves a whitewashed history, perpetuates toxic practices, and sustains all forms of inequality.

We further demand the National World War II Museum embody the tenets of Black Lives Matter in its hiring practices, employee experiences, compensation, and security measures.

COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY

We demand The National WWII Museum take responsibility for its failures and better engage itself in ways to uplift the community through the history lessons of World War II.

• We demand visibility: the NWWIIM installs multiple permanent galleries to honor the BIPOC soldiers who served during WWII.

• We demand equity: that the NWWIIM allocates a higher percentage of their budget to the Education department in order to aid in outreach to locally-based BIPOC schools and form meaningful and mutually beneficial partnerships.

We value the lessons learned in World War II and the progress it made for human rights. We want our nation’s museum to better reflect our values and be held accountable for instances that Museum representatives have denied visitors, donors, and employees from being fairly represented and treated. As a Museum protecting the harrowing stories of Americans fighting for liberation and equality, we demand it fights against inequality within its organization, too. We believe The National WWII Museum can elevate, amplify, and liberate the voices of those denied representation by ensuring diverse representation in its decision making, hiring, and outreach.