Kristen Windmuller-Luna has an impressive resumé focused on African art curation. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University and her B.A. in the History of Art from Yale University — but she is not black or presumed of African decent. According to the NY Times, Windmuller-Luna is the daughter of two upstate New Yorkers. Her race has caused a social media firestorm after reports of Windmuller-Luna’s new role as “Sills Family Consulting Curator, African Art” at the Brooklyn Museum.

Windmuller-Luna, who will officially begin her new role at the museum in April, steps in at a time of heightened sensitivity stemming from the negative effects of gentrification juxtaposed the empowering sentiments many blacks felt after watching the billion-dollar film “Black Panther.”

At the very beginning of “Black Panther” Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), the Wakandan-American who aims to take the throne as the Black Panther to avenge his father, enters a fictional British museum to survey a collection of West African artifacts. The curator of the exhibit — a white female — runs up to him to explain the collection, describing each item in a patient yet condescending tone. They move through the artifacts as Killmonger asks questions while the curator produces answers about the museum’s “discoveries.” When the curator describes one artifact, an axe, Killmonger quickly interrupts and corrects her on where the item is really from and how special it is. This scene, lasting no more than five minutes, stirs up the discussion on race and culture and the “study of it.”

Many took to Twitter to reference this scene and the museum’s new appointee.

While another report states that the Brooklyn Museum hired two white curators, Windmuller-Luna is the only one who has been added to the African art curation team.

According to a press release sent out earlier this week by the Brooklyn Museum, “Windmuller-Luna will assess and rethink the Brooklyn Museum’s extensive holdings of African art, which is comprised of more than 6,000 objects, and organize an innovative, freshly conceived temporary installation showcasing the breadth and depth of the collection. Working with the curatorial team, she will focus on creating a visual dialogue between the African art collection and other significant works within the Museum’s holdings.”

Members of the board at the museum say Windmuller-Luna is the perfect fit for this position that was vacant since 2017.

“Dr. Windmuller-Luna is a fine fit for this position,” said Larry and Susan Sills, members of the Board of Advisors at the Brooklyn Museum, and whose family the job title is named after. “We look forward to witnessing the creative ways she will approach the study and display of the Brooklyn Museum’s renowned African art collection.”

“Kristen is the perfect choice to build upon the Brooklyn Museum’s track record as an innovator in the collection and exhibition of the arts of Africa,” said Jennifer Chi, Deputy Director and Chief Curator. “Her vision for a new permanent collection installation that transforms how viewers relate to the arts of Africa is tremendously exciting for us as we near the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Museum’s pioneering exhibition of African art in 1923.”

In a recent article, “Why museum professionals need to talk about Black Panther”, written by Casey Haughin, he writes “museums need to step up and acknowledge the fact that Killmonger’s anger in the exhibition and the experience he had were not entirely fictionalized, but rather a magnification of museum practices in the modern world.”

“It is uncomfortable for many institutions to even broach the subject of the museum’s complicated relationship with audiences of color, but Black Panther has created an impeccable opportunity for institutions to begin a dialogue with their community,” Haughin continues. “The scene may only reinforce their conception of museums, or it may open their eyes to the realities of the complicated relationship between the universal museum and colonialism, and museums need to be prepared to actively engage with this topic rather than avoiding the uncomfortable truths that are now out in the open on cinema screens.”

The dialogue has begun in Brooklyn and while this is the current reality we hope the museum’s entire curation team is as diverse as the borough it lives in.