Black students on a field trip said they were told 'no food, no drink, no watermelon.'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The field trip to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts was supposed to be a reward for good grades and excellent behavior.

Instead, chaperones say, students from the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester, Mass., left in tears last week after they were subjected to racial profiling from museum employees and offensive comments from visitors.

On Wednesday, the renowned art museum issued a public apology to the middle school, where the majority of students are black or Latino. All of the 26 seventh-graders who went on the school trip are students of color, according to school officials, and the allegations have prompted a larger conversation about how museums and other elite cultural institutions can be uncomfortable spaces for people of color.

“The most important data is the fact that we had children leave this museum and adults feeling disrespected because of the color of their skin. That is fundamentally not okay,” Makeeba McCreary, the MFA’s chief of learning and community engagement, told the Boston Globe. “I also know this is not a once-in-a-moment occurrence. People have expressed over time — and I’m from Boston, I grew up here — that the museum is a challenging place to be in the lightest sense of terms, and an unwelcoming place for people of color in the most direct terms. These two things are very true and very real.”

-more-

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/black-students-on-a-field-trip-said-they-were-told-no-food-no-drink-no-watermelon-now-the-museum-is-apologizing/ar-AABQQif?li=BBnbcA1

[SWBTATTReg]

1. God. What is wrong with people? And this is a public institution of higher learning? I'd say...

that some in the Museum need to be fired and diversity training immediately implemented, at the minimum. Also, apologies should be made in person to these kids.

[Me.]

2. Such A Shame

[Hekate]

3. It's flat out despicable

I'm still working my way through the linked article, but "poorly handled" hardly seems to cover how badly botched the entire day was. It should be a scandal in Massachussetts, and the Museum should be publicly hammered in the Boston Globe. Shame on them to allow kids to be treated this way.

[suffragette]

5. It sure is. Boston Globe article is disturbingly framed as well.

Looked for an article by them and found this one.

While the article has some good information, especially near the end, it is initially framed by a first sentence that characterizes the incident as the museum being “under siege” rather than starting from the point of view of the students and teachers who were treated in such an appalling way.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/05/23/racism-allegations-puts-museum-fine-arts-spotlight/nz93s1AR2Hw3boixFHAqQI/story.html?outputType=amp

The Museum of Fine Arts found itself under siege Thursday as educators, politicians, and civil-rights activists assailed the renowned institution over reports that minority students from a Dorchester middle school were subjected to racial insults and close security during a field trip.

Under siege. Same racist point of view that led security guards to follow the students from the moment they stepped into the museum. Yes - despicable.

[gratuitous]

4. Why don't "those people" assimilate?

"The museum is a challenging place to be . . . an unwelcoming place for people of color."

Wow. Planning to get your act together anytime soon, Boston?

[appalachiablue]

6. Museum educator & can't believe what I'm reading, shocking

>" Meanwhile, a staff member who was explaining the museum’s rules allegedly told the group, “No food, no drink, no watermelon.” Lamy told the Globe that she did not hear the comment herself, but students who were upset by the apparent reference to a well-known racist trope told her about it later on. One 13-year-old told the Globe that the remark left her feeling angry, uncomfortable, and disrespected.

One person who commented on Lamy’s Facebook post disputed the students’ claim, writing that the students misheard and the employee had said, “No water bottles,” WBUR reported. That comment appears to have since been deleted, and it’s unclear whether the individual who posted it had firsthand knowledge of the situation. Though the museum typically allows guests to carry closed water bottles, school groups are advised that no drinks are allowed in the galleries.

The middle schoolers also reported hearing disparaging remarks from other museum visitors. In her Facebook post, Lamy said that one student told her that she had been dancing to music that was being played as part of an exhibit, and was told by a museumgoer “that’s it’s a shame that she is not learning and instead stripping.”

[BigDemVoter]

7. Nothing shocks or surprises me anymore.

We are living in Pussy Grabber's America.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. It was like this before he came along.

[BigDemVoter]

11. Do you think it was this bad though?

I am not surprised by the open racism. . . But I don't recall hearing such overtly racist comments before this. Do you remember it being this bad?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. It has always been this bad.

A wider audience is learning about it, that's all.

[TeamPooka]

8. Oh Boston, you'll never change will you?

[smirkymonkey]

10. I am disgusted and ashamed of my city, and this institution in particular.

I honestly thought we were better than this. I guess I was wrong. This museum owes not only an apology, but they need to make restitution in some way. This is totally unacceptable. I thought Boston had come a long way but when I hear about things like this it really breaks my heart.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Horrible!