Email to Sen. Jacque

Good Afternoon Sen. Jacque,

I’m writing as a concerned Milwaukee resident and member of PreserveMKE, a group advocating to save the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) from a cultural tragedy unfolding under MPM Inc.’s leadership. As a legislator who voted to fund the new museum with $45 million in county taxpayer dollars—part of an $85 million public investment including $40 million from the state—I urge you to address the profound impact this project is having on Milwaukeeans. We feel our history is being erased, with iconic exhibits like the Streets of Old Milwaukee, European Village, dioramas, and miniatures—the heartbeat of our diverse cultural heritage—set to be destroyed. MPM Inc.’s vision dismisses these treasures as “white and Eurocentric” and “culturally irrelevant,” ignoring their significance to our community, including Black, Latino, and Indigenous Milwaukeeans who see their stories reflected in these exhibits.

Dr. Ellen Censky and the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors have been unresponsive to our questions about the exhibits and collections, leaving us in the dark about our own history. Dr. Censky has publicly stated, “MPM is a natural history museum, not a history museum,” and claims MPM Inc. owns the exhibits, contradicting the 2013 Lease and Management Agreement and the 990 nonprofit filing, which assign ownership to Milwaukee County. Worse, she asserts MPM can deaccession any item under $5,000 without board or public approval, putting much of our collection at risk without any notification of her decisions. We’re being told to “trust the experts,” but as Thomas Sowell said, “The issue is not what is best, but who gets to decide what is best.” Why are Milwaukeeans excluded from decisions about our own collections?

Communication with MPM Inc. has been a struggle—we’re not allowed to add agenda items to the MPM Board’s agenda, and most meetings are conducted in closed sessions, blocking public input on this complex $240 million project. Since January 2023, when MPM Inc. unveiled their vision excluding these exhibits—part of the globally recognized “Milwaukee style”—we’ve faced relentless resistance, despite a petition with over 11,000 signatures. We’ve shared our concerns through videos (https://youtu.be/zLbEQmxIzbo and https://youtu.be/8YtS57OWH68), but the lack of transparency persists, fueling our fear that our history is being erased without accountability.

We’re not against a new museum, but we want it to preserve our treasured exhibits, not “evolve” them into a virtual format that discards their beauty and artistry. We demand a citizen board to ensure transparency and public oversight, giving Milwaukeeans a voice in this project. Join our community on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/904916267368582) and learn more at www.preservemke.org. Can we count on your support to address these concerns and protect Milwaukee’s cultural heritage?

Best,

Preserve MKE