Author Jhumpa Lahiri rejects NYC’s Noguchi Museum award after keffiyeh ban | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

A Pulitzer Prize winner is refusing to accept his award next month from a New York museum that fired three employees for wearing a Palestinian solidarity symbol.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri refused to accept an award from New York City’s Noguchi Museum after firing three employees for wearing keffiyeh headscarves, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.

The museum, founded nearly 40 years ago by Japanese-American designer and sculptor Isamu Noguchi, announced in August that employees will not wear clothing or accessories that display “political messages, slogans or symbols” during their working hours.

“Jhumpa Lahiri has chosen to cancel his acceptance of the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award due to our revised dress code policy,” the museum said in a statement on Wednesday. “We respect his opinion and understand that this policy may or may not agree with everyone’s opinion.”

The New York Times first reported the news.

Amy Hau, the museum’s director, in a side statement published on its website, said the policy “is intended to prevent any unintentional fragmentation of our various visits, while allowing us to remain focused on our primary goal of promoting understanding and appreciation.” of the art and legacy of Isamu Noguchi”.

Around the world, protesters calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza have worn the black and white keffiyeh scarf, a symbol of Palestinian independence. South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was also seen wearing a scarf many times.

Israel’s supporters say this shows support for extremism.

He was attacked for wearing a keffiyeh

In November, three Palestinian students in the US state of Vermont were shot during an attack. Two were wearing keffiyeh.

In May, a New York City hospital fired a Palestinian-American nurse after she called Israel’s actions in Gaza “genocide” during an acceptance speech. Israel denies the murder charges brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

According to the NYT, Lahiri and Lee Ufan, a young Korean-born painter, sculptor and poet, were to receive the Isamu Noguchi Award at a museum benefit exhibition next month. Ufan is still slated to receive a medal, the museum said.

Lahiri, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his book, The Interpreter of Maladies, was one of thousands of scholars who signed a letter in May to US university presidents, expressing solidarity with the campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, calling it “unspeakable destruction”.