Community group accuses Sunnyvale of censorship over ‘Historic Palestine’ poster at arts fair

By Zach Fuentes

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    SUNNYVALE, California (KGO) — A community group is accusing the City of Sunnyvale of censorship at a community arts fair over the weekend.

The group of moms that teaches art to kids brought their booth to Sunnyvale’s Hands on the Arts Festival. They set up an area at the Sunnyvale Community Center to teach how to create traditional Palestinian ceramics.

“It’s a celebration of our culture. It’s a celebration of our art,” the group’s co-founder said.

That co-founder wanted to remain anonymous for her safety after what she said happened about two hours into the event.

“There was a woman we noticed pointing to our poster, which portrayed the historic map of Palestine, and she was very heated and aggressive and angry. She had event staff with her, and she was saying that, this is not okay,” the co-founder said.

The poster was a map labeled “Historic Palestine.”

“The person who designed the sign did it specifically to ensure that it was nonpolitical, non-confrontational,” the co-founder said.

The group said city staff and even the mayor later approached them.

“They just said to us, ‘You have to remove your sign or leave. It’s offensive, and it wasn’t pre-approved,'” she said.

The Sunnyvale City manager Tim Kirby spoke about the incident at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

“Staff became aware that an artist who had been selected for the event was displaying materials that the city had not approved as part of their proposed children’s craft project. Approval is a requirement for all participating artists. The materials could have been displayed in the free speech area at the event,” Kirby said.

The group said the pre-approval rule was not properly communicated to them and they knew nothing about the free speech zone.

“Nobody mentioned a free speech area. Nobody gave us the option of moving our sign to a free speech area. We had two options to remove it or to leave,”

The group chose to leave.

“We didn’t want to be censored,” the co-founder said.

They’re now calling for the city to issue an apology and provide education to staff.

The Council on American Islamic Relations or CAIR has echoed those calls. Though the co-founder of the arts group said that the allyship is critical, she said the issue is anti-Palestinian Hate.

“This is not an Islamophobic act, she said, “I’m a Christian myself, although I have so much love for my Muslim and Jewish brothers and sisters.”

The city said in a statement that it is taking the matter seriously and is still gathering information.

The group’s co-founder said they still haven’t been asked by the city to comment.

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