The empire is the enemy. From the belly of the beast, we choose to resist it.

Art institute of Chicago Stop profiting from empire

Cut ties with the Crown Family
#CancelCrown

The Art Institute of Chicago says that:

“Our museum reflects and deepens our collective humanity; the arts are integral to an inspired and just society.”

While claiming to uphold the value of “collective humanity”, the Art Institute has welcomed the Crown family as significant donors to the museum and the School of the Art Institute, serving to legitimize the Crown’s and the wealth that the earn through their ownership steak in weapons contractor General Dynamics. General Dynamics is the fifth largest weapons contractor in the US, selling weapons that the US Military, the Israel Defense Force, and the Saudi military use to annihilate families in service of the US empire.

Who is the Crown Family?

The 34th wealthiest family in the US, the Crown’s have a financial stake in everything from Chase Bank, to Maytag, to the Chicago Bulls. But their original and ongoing source of wealth comes from their stake in General Dynamics, where they have a ten percent ownership steak and James Crown is the lead director. With those billions earned from destroying schools in Yemen, repressing dissidents in Egypt, and murdering children in Palestine, the Crown’s have presented themselves as significant philanthropists, and major players in Democratic party politics.

Some places the Crowns Blood Stained money has gone:

  • Hundreds of thousands of dollars to the “Biden Action Fund” alongside the Democratic National Committee
  • 150,000 dollars to Lori Lightfoot’s campaigns for mayor of Chicago
  • At least five million dollars to the Obama Presidential Center
  • Millions of dollars to colleges and Universities, including Northwestern and the University of Chicago

The Crown Family, General Dynamics, and US-Israel War machine: A Special Relationship

The relationship between the Crowns, General Dynamics, and the US-Israel War Machine is expansive and mutual.

  • General Dynamics is a long-time supplier of weapons to the genocidal Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and an eager participant in Israeli atrocities. In 2007, a $65-million-dollar deal bought 3,500 bombs for the IDF from General Dynamics; in 2012, $647-million worth of GD bombs were sold to Israel; and in 2015 the US State Department approved a $1.8-billion-dollar sale from GD to the IDF
  • Crown family patriarch Lester Crown has been an outspoken defender of Israel, being named by the Jewish News Syndicate and Israeli embassy in Washington, DC as one of the greatest American contributors to US-Israeli relations.
  • The Crown’s flagship philanthropic arm, The Crown Foundation is a major supplier of funding to Zionist and pro-Israel organizations, including the American Friends of the IDF.
  • Lester Crown wrote- without any semblance of irony- “While my involvement in politics is motivated by a variety of issues, there is one issue that is fundamental: My deep commitment to Israel and to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship that strengthens both Israel’s security and its efforts to seek peace”

The Crown Family and the Art Institute

While making self-serving donations to pro-war politicians, and university think-tanks that legitimize US imperialism, the Crown’s have also built themselves into major players in the art world, sitting on boards and contributing millions to museums. This is a prime example of artwashing: using the promotion of the arts or access to the arts as a cover for something much more pernicious. In this case arts-based philanthropy is washing the wealth gained through untold human suffering at the hands of the US war machine.

The Art Institute has willfully assisted the Crown family in their artwashing endeavors. A Steven Crown sits on the board of trustees, the School of the Art Institute has an endowed Crown professorship, and the Art Institute has a gallery named after Henry Crown.

In taking the money that Crowns have made from the destruction of Yemen, the Art Institute is actively legitimizing these monstrous crimes and making its visitors and staff complicit in them.

During the disastrous US-Saudi war against Yemen, General Dynamics has been a major source of arms to the bombing and destruction of Yemen, which has killed ten’s of thousands of Yemeni’s and wrecked havoc on Yemen’s infrastructure, spreading Cholera and other diseases. One snapshot of the human misery caused by General Dynamics bombs:

MK-84 bomb fragments were found at the site of a March 15, 2016 attack that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children. Investigators found remnants of both a GBU-31 bomb, a MK-84 bomb mated with a JDAM satellite guidance kit, and another MK-84 with a Paveway laser guidance kit. These two bombs hit a crowded market in the village of Mastaba in northwestern Yemen. The first bomb landed directly in front of some shops and a restaurant. The second struck at the entrance to the market, where it killed and wounded people trying to escape or to help the wounded.

A 2018 Code Pink report

In taking the money that Crowns have made from the genocidal dispossession in Palestine, the Art Institute is actively legitimizing these monstrous crimes and making its visitors and staff complicit in them.

General Dynamics is a long-time supplier of weapons to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and an eager participant in Israeli atrocities. In 2007, a $65-million-dollar deal bought 3,500 bombs for the IDF from General Dynamics; in 2012, $647-million worth of GD bombs were sold to Israel; and in 2015 the US State Department approved a $1.8-billion-dollar sale from GD to the IDF. A UN commission on the 2014 assault on Gaza reported on the devastation cause by those General Dynamics bombs:

Israeli forces attacked the Al-Hajj family’s home with one of General Dynamics’ bombs at 2 a.m. on July 10, 2014. The bomb killed all 8 members of the sleeping family, including two children and three women. The bomb appeared to be an MK-82 500-pound bomb fitted with JDAM technology. The blast completely destroyed the Al Hajj home and damaged twenty neighboring homes, injuring 20 other people, including 7 women and 4 children. The home was in a residential area and was not used in any military activity.

From the report of the United Nations on the 2014 assault on Gaza

In taking the money the Crowns have made from surveilling and detaining migrants, the Art Institute is actively legitimizing these monstrous crimes and making its visitors and staff complicit in them.

As of 2017, a General Dynamics subsidiary was providing the Customs and Border Patrol with a remote video surveillance system across 68 sites to “detect, track, identify, and classify” migrants and refugees. A General Dynamics subsidiary, General Dynamics Information Technology, has received over $4 billion dollars from the US Office of Refugee Resettlement, providing staffing and support to the detention of immigrant children.

While profiting from the US wars of aggression and imperialist interventions that cause mass migration, the Crown family also profits from the repression and surveillance of migrants, including the kidnapping and detention of children.

The Art Institute of Chicago has a choice to make: it can continue to aid the Crown family, artwashing the proceeds of US imperialism. Or they can stand with the people of the world. To do that, the Art Institute must:

  • Remove Steven Crown from the board of trustees
  • Rename the Henry Crown Gallery
  • End the Crown professorship at SAIC

Removing the Crowns from the Art Institute would strike a blow against US imperialism, and gives people in Chicago a concrete vehicle to stand with the people of the world and against the US empire. It won’t be accomplished through appealing to the morality of the museums leadership, instead we need to go out broadly and expose the Crowns and their role in US imperialism, bringing forward museum visitors, artists, faculty, and staff as a voice against the Crown family and the complicity of the Art Institute.

Get Involved

  • Hit up Behind Enemy Lines to join our street team in bringing this campaign to the Art Institute
  • Affiliated with the Art Institute or SAIC? Hit us up to find out how to get involved
  • Invite Behind Enemy Lines to give a presentation on the Crown family to your school, church, union, or gallery
  • Make a donation to help us sustain this campaign

More Information

#CancelCrown
Behind Enemy Lines #CancelCrown forum from 2021
Peace Report video