Posted on 05/25/2019 7:18:37 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has apologized after a middle school teacher says her students were subjected to racist comments and profiling from staff and patrons during a field trip.
In a Facebook post published earlier this week, English teacher Marvelyne Lamy said she brought her Grade 7 students -- who she described as all “black and brown” -- from the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy in Dorchester, Mass. to the museum on May 16.
“At the very beginning of the tour, one of the staff gave an overview on what to expect and told the kids no food, no drink, and no watermelon,” she wrote.
Lamy said she and the other chaperones were not made aware of the comment until after the visit so they carried on with the tour. She said her students were instructed not to touch any of the artifacts even though they could see a group of white students on another school trip touch the displays on several occasions as the security guards looked on.
“The minute one of our students followed suit, the security guards would yell at them that they should not touch exhibits,” she said.
As Lamy and her students made their way through the museum, she said they were closely followed by security guards.
“Many of our students grew agitated,” she recalled. “It got so bad that I started gathering our students so we could leave.”
On their way out of one of the exhibits, Lamy said one of her female students told her that a patron made a disparaging comment to her when she was dancing to music being played in the museum.
“The visitor said that’s it’s a shame that she is not learning and instead stripping,” Lamy said.
That’s when Lamy said she had had enough and rounded up her class to leave. When her students were standing in the doorway of the African exhibit preparing to exit, the teacher said a museum guest walking by said there were “f***ing black kids in the way.”
Lamy said museum staff offered her tickets to bring the class back on another occasion after she complained about the treatment they received during the visit.
“We did not even receive an apology,” she said. “The worse [sic] part about all of this is seeing the hurt look on my children’s faces as this was their first time experiencing racism first hand.”
Two days after Lamy’s complaint, the museum’s leadership team issued a statement apologizing for “a range of challenging and unacceptable experiences” that made the students feel “unwelcome” during their visit.
“That is not who we are or want to be,” the statement read. “Our intention is to set the highest of standards, and we are committed to doing the work that it will take to get there.”
The next day, museum executives visited Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy to discuss the incident with school officials.
“We’re in the process of rolling out some new training next month, so we’re figuring out how to expedite that and maybe bolster it with more,” Katie Getchell, the museum’s deputy director, told local television station WBZ.
The executives also invited the students to return to the museum, something Lamy has vowed she won’t do.
“I cannot stress to you enough, I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE MUSUEM OF FINE ARTS,” she wrote on Facebook.
I call BS. I have been in a lot of art museums (maybe 30) and never one time seen a docent or a security person engage children with anything other than canned instructions.
Running around, screaming and throwing stuff, right..?
There are some people who regard as totally natural all manner of behavior which in other places is commonly viewed as PANDEMONIUM.
I wonder what’s true, this time.
I’d bet that negative stereotypes were being reinforced.
Forgot fried chicken and bananas.
I have visited the MOMA many times when we have visited my in laws. I am finding this really hard to believe.
Not buying a word of it.
“Agitated”
“Dancing”
Yeah, those are weasel words.
Taking out their genitals..? Brandishing weapons..?
Could be anything these days, with urban parental resignation and the level of apoligism.
“Trayvon was simply taking a walk in the rain”
“Gentle Giant was simply crossing the street..! He said, ‘I just want to go to college and have kids..!’ “
(this is Hood-ese for Strong-armed Robbery, so maybe “dancing” is a BJ and “agitation” is beating someone to death)
I guess it could have happened the way it has been reported.
The problem with the Jussie Smollett hoax and similar false allegations is that it makes reasonable people think twice about stories that seem unbelievable.
I can only imagine what kind of "dance" this kid was doing. Maybe the teachers should be a little concerned about the character of this kid. As it is, a complete stranger is the closest she'll ever come to polite society.
Fake news and a fabricated story. I'll put it right up there with that black female journalist who wrote a story about some homeless woman, etc, and even won a Pulitzer. Turned out the whole story was made up and she lost the prize, her job, reputation..........
Dollar to donut, some hood rats were acting like hood rats and were treated to common, civil responses to correct them.
Experienced it first hand, in the 80’s... as a hood rat.
All black and brown? No whiteys? No Asians? No Native-American relatives of Lizzie Warren in the group? No integration or diversity? That’s discrimination.
I have a feeling Marvelyne’s gofundme account is going to take off nicely.
In Boston? Bullcrap.
I call BS.
One incident I could see - maybe two - but practically the entire museum staff?
I’m sure the security guard telling the kids not to touch the exhibits purely racist too.
“You can’t win! I got yelled at when I told a similar group of kids to go eat some watermelon!”
I have a black in law who surprised me one of the first times I met her by talking about how much she liked watermelon. No hood rats in her family. One Annapolis grad. and one Olympic record holder.
I see this all the time in museums.
The tour guides and the security guards actually encourage white visitors to touch and manhandle object.
/s
Maybe. Why would it even occur to anyone to say that?
I was standing behind the viewing line looking at a 10x30 piece of "artwork" and she thought I was too close.
I hope the museum didn't pay much for the squares and triangles and circles and the splattered lines of paint for the piece of "art".
It looked like something a kid in 1st grade might have designed.
So the white male reporter asked the teacher, “What was your last name again?”
“Lamy”
OK I’ll do that; but first tell me your last name.
Dollar to donut, some hood rats were acting like hood rats
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