BOSTON (WHDH) - The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston banned two members Friday who made racist comments to a group of visiting minority students during a field trip last week.
Marvelynne Lamy, a seventh-grade teacher at Dorchester’s Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy, told 7News that her 26 students were subjected to racism during their visit.
One staff member said, “no food, no drink, and no watermelon” while explaining the museum rules to the students, according to Lamy. She also says a patron referred to her students as “expletive black kids.”
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston launched an immediate investigation, focusing on four racist incidents that were reported to a team of senior museum managers on May 16.
They determined that museum visitors made racist comments to students on two separate occasions.
They identified the patrons who made the disparaging remarks and revoked their membership and banned them from the grounds.
In regards to the reports of students being told: “no food, no drink, no watermelon,” the museum said that the employee who greeted the group recalled relaying as part of standard operating procedures that “no food, no drink, and no water bottles” were allowed.
“There is no way to definitively confirm or deny what was said or heard in the galleries. Regardless, the MFA is committed to providing additional training for all frontline staff on how to engage with incoming school groups about policies and guidelines,” the museum said in a statement. “These guidelines are in place to ensure the comfort and safety of all visitors and staff, as well as the protection of objects in our care.”
The museum added that it “is working with outside experts on continued mandatory unconscious bias training, conflict resolution training, and sexual harassment training for all staff … reviewing all visitor touchpoints to ensure that every visitor’s experience from entry to exit is positive and welcoming.”
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