“Open to all people”: upholding radical tolerance in commemorative spaces

Abstract

ABSTRACT On Friday, May 18, 2018, the grounds of Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas were splashed with white acrylic paint and littered with flyers containing a brief, targeted manifesto: “It’s okay to be white.” Through interviews with Rothko Chapel staff members, I explore the various tensions that arise from a commemorative space that upholds a policy of radical tolerance—that is, an elevated human virtue that attempts to transcend the limitations of mere tolerance by requiring a deeper reflexivity toward acts of hate and violence—becoming the subject of an intolerant, violent act that challenged the central values of its mission.