TUMWATER — The Washington Department of Labor and Industries says it will remove from its lobby exhibit four paintings by a man serving prison for killing two FBI agents.
KING-TV reported the works are by Leonard Peltier, 71, and part of an exhibit to mark National American Indian Heritage Month.
An association representing retired FBI agents demanded the state agency remove the paintings from its building in Tumwater, Washington.
Peltier, a Native American activist, was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in the deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Labor and Industries spokesman Tim Church said displaying the work wasn’t meant as an endorsement of Peltier’s cause. He said it was simply meant to be about Native American art.
Church said the works will be replaced by other artwork.
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