Sunnyvale is facing criticism after officials asked a Palestinian art booth to leave a city-run children’s event for refusing to remove a poster.
City officials confronted the “Palestine Palette” art booth’s organizers partway through the Hands on the Arts festival Saturday, citing unapproved political content: a poster with a historic map of Palestine. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is condemning the decision, claiming the city censored Palestinian culture, and is calling for a public apology and for city staff to take equity, inclusion and free speech training.
“We are deeply concerned that Palestinian culture was singled out for censorship at an event meant to celebrate diversity,” CAIR San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo said in a statement.
Artist coalition Soul of my Soul, which hosts galleries and art events about Palestinian culture throughout the Bay Area, organized the booth for the festival. Children could paint ceramic tiles at the booth and learn about Palestinian art, including posters discussing the people’s history and significance of various artistic symbols.
City spokesperson Rachel Davis said all materials and art projects need city approval in advance, and that the booth displayed unapproved material. She said city officials asked the booth organizers to remove the unapproved poster or leave, and they chose to leave the event.
Davis added the city has heard multiple perspectives about what occurred and is committed to its tenets of treating all everyone with dignity.
“As we continue to gather information, it is very clear that this is an opportunity to learn from one another and determine how we can improve,” Davis told San José Spotlight. “We look forward to having an open and compassionate dialogue as we move forward.”
Soul of my Soul co-founder Dina, who requested to only use her first name out of fear for her safety, worked the event and said the city didn’t communicate materials needed approval ahead of time. She also said the city’s event organizers helped set up the booth and put up the posters — which were created intentionally to keep away from politics.
About an hour into the event, Dina said an attendee began loudly expressing their disapproval of the poster with the map. A few hours later, four event organizers confronted Dina in front of children and families painting tiles at the booth and told her to remove the poster.
Dina said one of the city’s organizers became aggressive, got in her personal space and tried to pack up items at the booth, some of which were Dina’s personal family heirloom ceramics from Palestine.
Soul of my Soul is working with CAIR and the NAACP to determine next steps, but Dina said she wants the city to apologize and for city officials to take an anti-Palestinian hate training. She also wants the city to hold the aggressive organizer accountable for harassing them.
“They politicize our existence, they politicize our history, they politicize every aspect of our existence, so what does that leave us with?” Dina told San José Spotlight. “You cannot say that a group’s history is political, because that is racist.”
Dozens of upset Sunnyvale residents spoke about the incident at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“You made it clear that your values of diversity and inclusivity are performative,” Omar, a member of the Muslim Community Association who did not give his last name, said at the meeting. “This is an opportunity for learning. It is clear the council requires education on anti-Palestinian racism so that in the future, decisions are not made that alienate an entire culture of identity at the request of a few angry community members.”
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
