At the risk of losing nearly $2M in funding, the Japanese American National Museum doubles down on DEI initiatives
Many organizations have been pressured to scrub references to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from their websites and work, or risk losing federal funding.
Instead of complying, the Japanese American National Museum is doubling down saying, “We will scrub nothing.” What’s at stake? Nearly two million dollars in grants, most of which had previously been approved by the Biden administration.
“Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,” Japanese American National Museum board chairman, Bill Fujioka said per the Los Angeles Times.
“As federal budget proposals threaten to gut funding for cultural institutions and programs that uphold our democracy, JANM takes a strong and vocal stance against these efforts to erase history, dismantle diversity, and criminalize vulnerable communities,” the museum said in a statement on social media. “We are proud to be among the few institutions standing firmly and unapologetically in defense of truth and justice.”
The museum’s statement continued by saying, “Despite some of the most significant federal cuts to arts and humanities funding in modern history, we remain unwavering in our mission—to tell the full story of America, both its triumphs and its failures.”
