The Grand SLAM

Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer
St. Louis Art Museum Photo

   In a world where many American museums have been tiptoeing through cultural property minefields, the St. Louis Art Museum has taken a heartwarming stand for sanity and rationality.  Zahi Hawass has coveted the SLAM's Egyptian mummy mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer for some time and has plenty of allies within the U.S. government and the halls of academia who would love to hand it over to him.  But, the museum's vibrant and intrepid director, Brent Benjamin, has within the parlance of refined society told them in no uncertain terms where to shove their ambitions.  In fact, the SLAM is seeking an injunction against government seizure of the remarkable artifact.
   The museum's argument is simple.  There is no legal basis for repatriation.  What more needs to be said?  All of the emotional hand wringing and wailing from retentionists lined up at the cultural property nationalist trough seems to have been wasted on Mr. Benjamin.

   You have to know that this man is doing something right because S.A.F.E. called his appointment to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee  "Outrageous".  Actually, what is outrageous is the way his appointment was then circumvented by bureaucratic political maneuvering during the transition from the Bush to the Obama administration.  Well, it probably was a blessing in disguise for Mr. Benjamin because his efforts to justly administer the law that enables that committee would have been an adventure in frustration.  At the end of the day, it is law that will prevail.  The lofty platitudes and appeals on "ethical" grounds are a lot of emotional claptrap.  Mr. Benjamin apparently sees through that ideological smoke screen and has acted decisively in the interests of his patrons and by extension the whole of society in a global environment.  He has earned my respect and I wish him and the SLAM well in their litigation.