Happy Birthday, Jimmy!
James Baldwin,
Zionism, Palestine,
and Information
Suppression at
New York Public
Library
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/new-york-public-library-vandalism-pro-palestinian-protest-nypl-main-branch
Photo of James Baldwin by David Pickoff of AP press, 1963
This August, the New York Public Library (NYPL) celebrates
the 100th birthday of writer and activist James Baldwin
with two exhibitions that highlight his revolutionary
thought [1]. As one of NYC’s three public library systems,
we ask NYPL: will you also celebrate Baldwin’s advocacy
of the Palestinian people?
Baldwin originally conceived of Israel as a homeland for
oppressed Jewish people, but as he learned more about
Palestine’s occupation [2] he became an adamant critic of
Israel, characterizing it as a neo-colonial state established
not for the safety of Jewish people, but for the
advancement of British and American imperialism.
Education was key to Baldwin’s shift in perspective, but
through suppression, censorship, and silence, NYC public
libraries, and NYPL specifically, have failed to educate
New Yorkers on Israel’s continued assault on Palestine’s
people, land, institutions, culture, and memory.
We ask NYPL to honor the life and activism of James
Baldwin:
END CENSORSHIP, MAKE INFORMATION ABOUT
PALESTINE AVAILABLE TO ALL, AND BEAR WITNESS TO
THE GENOCIDE THROUGH EDUCATION.
Photograph by Ulf Andersen
Comic by Ellen O’Grady
Email sent by the Director of the Stavros Niarchos
Foundation Library to staff on December 7th, 2023
million of Schwarzman’s personal money is dedicated to funding the construction
of a National Library of Israel.[6]
And Schwarzman is not the only one. Through the Howard and Abby Milstein
Foundation, NYPL trustee Abby Milstein donated millions to the UJA-Federation
of New York, which funds the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank [7].
Additionally, NYPL trustee James Tisch was formerly the president of the UJA-
Federation of New York and his family donated over $5 million to the UJA-
Federation in 2023 [8].
When NYPL accepts Zionist money, it normalizes the brutalization of
Palestinians in the name of educating New York City, all while
laundering the reputations of those who profit off the oppression of
Palestinians.
Baldwin said: “And look at the New York
buildings, rising up like tyrannical eagles,
glass and steel and aluminum smiting the air,
jerry-built, inept, contemptuous; who can
function in these buildings and for whose
profit were they built?”
-Nothing Personal, 1964
Settlements in West Bank, Getty Images
NYPL claims it advocates for free and open
access to information for all, but Stephen
A. Schwarzman, the CEO of the Blackstone
Group and an ardent Trump supporter, is
NYPL’s biggest donor [3]. In addition to
funding Republican candidates [4] who
target libraries by banning books and
supporting groups like Moms for Liberty
[4.5], he pledged $7 million to Israel [5]. As
Gazan libraries are razed by the IOF, $10
NYPL RUNS ON ZIONIST MONEY
Baldwin said:
NYPL SMEARS NEW YORKERS
WHO STAND AGAINST GENOCIDE
AND SCHOLASTICIDE
In November, when just over 10,000 Palestinians had
been killed, protestors marked the Stephen A.
Schwarzman Building (SASB) with anti-genocide
graffiti on Thanksgiving Day to protest Schwarzman’s
support of genocide [9]. NYPL as an institution, and
President Tony Marx as an individual, had nothing to
say about the thousands of dead Gazans or the mass
destruction of Palestinian libraries, schools, and
museums. Library spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino
characterized this principled political action as merely
a “shameful act of vandalism.” [9.5]
What is truly shameful is the destruction of
Palestinian lives and knowledge.
The IOF continually targets Palestinian cultural
institutions as an act of genocide, meant to erase any
record of Palestinian life or culture. According to the
Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP), [10] at
the time of the protest, Israel had already destroyed,
damaged, or looted:
Baldwin said: “And so we go under, victims of that universal
cruelty which lives in the heart and in the world, victims of the
universal indifference to the fate of another, victims of the
universal fear of love, proof of the impossibility of achieving a
life without love. One day, perhaps, unimaginable generations
hence, we will evolve into the knowledge that human beings
are more important than real estate and will permit this
knowledge to become the ruling principle of our lives.”
Nothing Personal, 1964
Ataa Library, Beit Hanoun
Ataa Library in Beit Hanoun
Al-Qarara Cultural Museum in Khan Younis
Rafah Museum
Samir Mansour Bookshop and Library in
Gaza City
Islamic University of Gaza Library in Gaza
City
Jawaharlal Nehru Library at Al-Azhar
University in Gaza City
Deir Al-Balah Museum
…and the number has only grown since then
Shame on you, NYPL! We say
Palestinian lives matter
more than a building
named for a Zionist.
Handprints left on the Schwarzman
building to protest Blackstone’s
complicity in civilian deaths in Gaza
Baldwin acknowledges the truth of Palestinian suffering, but
librarians who highlight the same truths are punished. In
December 2023, when a librarian was targeted by Zionists
and the New York Post for their book display on Palestine,
NYPL called it “unacceptable” and “one-sided.”[11]
Then, on February 5th, 2024, Brian Bannon, Merryl and
James Tisch Director of Branch Libraries and Education,
emailed NYPL staff new guidelines on book displays,
ultimately discouraging engagement with “sensitive topics”
by putting the onus on branch managers to take full
responsibility for any displays that result in controversy.
NYPL claimed these guidelines were created to empower
library staff, but in reality, these guidelines are so vague that
they do not provide any intellectual security for workers to
do their jobs.
NYPL has created a climate of hesitation and fear
around creating displays, planning programs, or
discussing Palestine in any way.
Baldwin said: “But the state of Israel
was not created for the salvation of
the Jews; it was created for the
salvation of the Western interests.
This is what is becoming clear… The
Palestinians have been paying for
the British colonial policy of
“divide and rule” and for Europe’s
guilty Christian conscience for
more than thirty years.”
Open Letter to the Born Again,
1979
NYPL SUPPRESSES THE
TRUTH ABOUT PALESTINE
NYPL IS BETRAYING ITS MISSION WHEN IT COMES TO PALESTINE
According to NYPL’s mission statement, the library aims to
“advance knowledge by providing free and open access to
materials and information that reflect New York’s global
perspective.”[11.5] When Russia invaded Ukraine, NYPL published
reading lists [12] and hosted events [12.5] to educate the public
about Ukraine.
But no such attention has been given to the ongoing current
event of Israel’s continued attack on Palestine. There have been
no reading lists or events that highlight Palestinian authors or
perspectives.
Instead, over the years, the Live from NYPL event series has
hosted right-wing Israeli politician Natan Sharansky [13] along
with laudatory programs dedicated to the former Prime Minister
of Israel Yitzhak Rabin, [14] Zionist author A. B. Yehoshua, [15] and
the Israeli theft of Polish artist Bruno Schulz’s work. [16]
After ten months of assault on Gaza, there has been no
acknowledgment of Palestinian authors or history from the
Library—only silence.
Searching for events relating to
Palestine on the NYPL website
yields no results.
Baldwin said: “No, the question is really a kind of
apathy and ignorance, which is a price we pay for
segregation. That’s what segregation means, that
you don’t know what’s happening on the other side
of the world because you don’t want to know.”
-Quoted in I Am Not Your Negro, 2016
References
- JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth [Exhibition]. (2024). The Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture. https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/jimmy-gods-black-revolutionary-mouth - Verdickt, R. (2023, November 9). ‘Imperfectly Realized Analogies’. James Baldwin, Black Lives Matter and
Palestine. Rekto Verso. https://www.rektoverso.be/artikel/imperfectly-realized-analogies-james-baldwin-black-
lives-matter-and-palestine - Sutton, S. (2024, May 24). Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman will back Trump. Politico.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/24/blackstone-ceo-steve-schwarzman-will-back-trump-00159967 - Donor Lookup, Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?
name=schwarzman%2C+stephen&order=desc&sort=D
4.5 Swenson, A. (2023, June 12). Moms for Liberty rises as power player in GOP politics after attacking schools
over gender, race. AP. https://apnews.com/article/moms-for-liberty-2024-election-republican-candidates-
f46500e0e17761a7e6a3c02b61a3d229 - Klein, Z. (2023, October 12). Funds and philanthropists: Diaspora Jews raise hundreds-of-millions for Israel. The
Jerusalem Post. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767973 - (2018, February 8). Billionaire Trump Adviser Donates to Israel National Library. U.S. News
https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2018-02-08/billionaire-trump-adviser-donates-to-israel-national-
library - + 8. UJA Federation of New York. (2023). King David Roll of Honor. https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/KDS-
Roll-of-Honor-Booklet-2023.pdf - Lane, C. (2023, November 25). New York Public Library facing steep graffiti cleanup costs after protests.
Gothamist. https://gothamist.com/news/new-york-public-library-facing-steep-graffiti-cleanup-costs-after-
protests
9.5 Nesi, C. (2023, November 25). NY Public Library facing $75K cleanup after ‘shameful act of vandalism’ by pro-
Palestinian protesters. NY Post. https://nypost.com/2023/11/26/metro/ny-public-library-facing-75k-cleanup-
after-pro-palestinian-protesters-vandalism/ - Librarians and Archivists with Palestine. (2024, February 1). Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and
Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024. https://librarianswithpalestine.org/gaza-report-2024/ - Levine, J. (2023, December 9). NYC couple checks out 5 pro-Palestinian children’s books indefinitely to
prevent ‘indoctrination’. NY Post. https://nypost.com/2023/12/09/metro/nyc-public-libraries-offer-kids-books-
on-israeli-apartheid/
11.5 The New York Public Library. Mission Statement. https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/mission - Horbal, B. (2022, March 3). Understanding the History of Ukraine: Recommended Reading. New York Public
Library. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2022/03/03/history-ukraine-recommended-reading
12.5 Live from NYPL. (2022, June 24). Seeing Ukraine. New York Public Library.
https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2022/06/24/seeing-ukraine - Live from NYPL. (2020, September 10). Never Alone: Natan Sharansky and David Remnick. New York Public
Library. https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2020/09/10/never-alone-natan-sharansky-and-david-remnick - Live from NYPL. (2015, November 14). Nancy Updike | Dan Ephron | Ira Glass: Why the Assassination of Yitzhak
Rabin Still Divides Israelis 20 Years Later. New York Public Library.
https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2015/11/05/ira-glass-nancy-updike-dan-ephron-why-assassination-
yitzhak-rabin-still - Live from NYPL. (2011, March 28). A.B. YEHOSHUA in conversation with Paul Holdengraber. New York Public
Library. https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2011/03/28/ab-yehoshua-conversation-paul-holdengraber - Live from NYPL. (2023, October 19). Chasing Bruno Schulz: Benjamin Balint with Joshua Cohen. New York
Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2023/10/19/benjaminbalint
Read More: James Baldwin
Notes of a Native Son (1955) (Call # CLASSICS 305.896 B)
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son
(1961) (Call # 814 BALDWIN)
A Rap on Race (1971) (Call # Sc 323.173-M (Mead, M. Rap on race)
at Schomburg and IE 71-634 at the Schwarzman Building)
No Name in the Street (1972) (Call # B BALDWIN B)
“A Report From Occupied Territory.” Baldwin, James. The Nation. July 11, 1966.
Read More: Palestine
Borrow material on Palestine from your local library, or request that they get it. Tell NYC public
libraries: New Yorkers stand with Gaza!
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (2011) by Omar Barghouti (Call # 956.054 B)
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
(2016) by Angela Davis (Call # 323 D)
Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics (2022) by Marc Lamont Hill and
Mitchell Plitnick (Call # 327.7305 H)
My People Shall Live: Autobiography of a Revolutionary (1973) by Leila Khaled (NYPL
doeesn’t have this title! But it is available via the Wayback Machine at
tinyurl.com/KhaledAutobiography)
One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate (2000) by Tom Segev
(Call # 956.94 S)
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance,
1917-2017 (2020) by Rashid Khalidi (Call # 956.9405 K)
Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978 (2023) by
Geoffrey Levin (Call # 973.0942 L)
This Is Not A Border: Reportage and Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature
(2017) edited by Ahdaf Soueif (Call # 809.9335 T)
What Does Israel Fear from Palestine? (2024) by Raja Shehadeh (Call # 956.942 S)
Read More: Children’s Books about Palestine
These Olive Trees (2023) by Aya Ghanameh (Call # J PIC GHANAMEH)
Sitti’s Bird: A Gaza Story (2022) by Malak Mattar (Call # J PIC MATTAR)
Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine (2023) by Hannah Moushabek and Reem
Madooh (CALL # J PIC MOUSHABEK)
Baba, What Does My Name Mean? (2022) by Reifk Ebeid and Lamaa Jawhari (Call # J
PIC EBEID)
Counting up the Olive Tree: A Palestine Number Book (2024) by Golbarg Bashi and Nabi
H. Ali (NYPL doesn’t yet have this title!)
P Is for Palestine: A Palestine Alphabet Book (2024) by Golbarg Bashi and Golrokh Nafisi
(NYPL doesn’t yet have this title!)
We Are Palestinian: A Celebration of Culture and Tradition (2023) by Reem Kassis and
Noha Eilouti (Call # J 956.94 K)
“I don’t mean I am against the
Jews… I mean I am against the
State of Israel because I think
a great injustice has been
done to the Arabs.”
-A Rap on Race, 1971
NYPL censors discussion and information about Palestine
Contact NYPL and tell them to fulfill their mission. Educate NYC about
the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine:
President Tony Marx: president@nypl.org
Board of Trustees: boardoftrustees@nypl.org
NYPL Press Office: press@nypl.org
SAMPLE SCRIPT
As the library celebrates the centennial of James Baldwin, I ask that you
live up to his “legacy of radical truth-telling,” as well as your own
mission to “advance knowledge by providing free and open access to
materials and information that reflect New York’s global perspective.”
As a patron, I demand NYPL:
Image by Micah Bazant
Invite Palestinian authors and thinkers to the Live from NYPL program.1.
Support staff who create displays, blog posts, and programs speaking
to the current genocide in Palestine.
2.
Make information about the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine
available to all, as it would be for any other current event.
3.
Speak out against the destruction of Palestinian cultural institutions.4.
End partnerships with companies that the5.
Palestinian BDS National Committee has
identified as “complicit in violations of
Palestinian rights” and divest from Zionist
donors who fund and profit off genocide.
bit.ly/BaldwinNYPL
