Indigenous Woman Forced To Remove Traditional Baby Carrier At Indigenous art exhibit

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Last Saturday, an Indigenous mother of Karuk descent was forced to leave the Portland Art Museum (PAM) in Portland, Oregon, after an employee told her to remove the traditional Karuk woven baby basket in which she was carrying her toddler on her back.

The mother shared on Facebook that a staff member told her the basket violated the museum’s “no backpacks” policy. PAM has since published a public apology to the mother, citing policy revisions to prevent this from happening again.

https://hyperallergic.com/808028/museum-apologizes-for-asking-native-mother-to-remove-traditional-baby-carrier/

-----------------------------


Indigenous Woman Forced To Remove Traditional Baby Carrier At Portland Art Museum, Apology Issued By Museum After Backlash



The Portland Art Museum is revisiting its policies after an employee condemned an Indigenous visitor for wearing a traditional woven baby carrier.

As OregonLive reports, the incident, which occurred on Saturday, sparked backlash online and had many calling out the museum.


The Indigenous mother was viewing the Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe exhibit when the employee approached her and said she had to take off the baby carrier because it violated the museum’s policy surrounding bags; the museum bars visitors from wearing backpacks in the facility.

The mother refused to remove the carrier and left the museum instead. She took to Facebook to share her experience on Monday, where she also shared a picture of her baby smiling in the carrier when they were inside the exhibit.

“The Portland Art Museum – where being Indigenous is cool as long (as) you are part of the exhibit and not actually practicing your culture,” the woman wrote in a screenshot of her post shared on Twitter. “The irony: we were at an Indigenous art exhibit. Racism is alive and well in these walls.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/indigenous-woman-forced-to-remove-traditional-baby-carrier-at-portland-art-museum-apology-issued-by-museum-after-backlash/ar-AA18CWf1

The Portland Art Museum quickly commented on the woman’s post that afternoon and apologized before sharing a public apology on Instagram and Twitter.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. It sounds like the museum quickly saw their error and took the right actions

[mcar]

2. Yes. Employee made a mistake

and the museum offered an apology and correction. Isn't that what we want?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. museum saw their error AFTER she posted online and backlash began

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. museum saw their error AFTER she posted online and backlash began

internet to the rescue again.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. I think you're being far too harsh toward the museum

They had a simple No Backpacks rule. That is very common. The woman's cultural backpack is very uncommon and I would be anything unforeseen. When made aware of it (yes, over the internet) they acted to rectify AND issued a public apology.

Your double post seems to indicate this isn't good enough. If that's how you see it, what WOULD be the right thing to do?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. I think it's pretty easy to look at that and say, "no yeah no, that doesn't fall under our backpacks

rule, it’s a baby carrier and it’s gorgeous, enjoy your visit,” right at the point she’s entering the museum, and then no one needs to apologize.

[Zeitghost]

7. Was the employee trained properly?

Were there written exclusions to the policy? Were these exceptions made clear to the employee? Is the exception for all child carrying backpacks?

Just questions I'd like to know before throwing someone under the bus for this.

[Talitha]

8. They considered it a backpack? Gimme a break!

Ok, it's great that the museum apologized for what their employee did, but still.... sheesh!

[vanlassie]

9. There is a very common trend in how women with babies are treated here (in the US.)

My experience relates to the many, many, many reported incidents in which a mother is approached in a public place like a restaurant, public swimming pool, museum, or other places where often the person approaching the mother is fairly young- usually female- and they tell the mother to stop breastfeeding. These people are bullies. They think they are seeing someone who is a little bit weak. Prime for using their precious little authority to push someone around. It is important to not only make sure full staff training takes place after the incident, but the management should look hard at the bully, as well.

[Phoenix61]

10. No one is going to like this but.... that's not an infant.

That’s a “I want it, reach and grab it” kid. There’s no way the mother would be able to stop it from happening. All she’d have to do is take a step back just a little too far and it’s blue balloon dog all over again.

[treestar]

11. don't know why it matters so much about her being "indigenous"

as it was about the carrier, who anyone could have been wearing, including a man.

You'd have to think you were in a really safe place using that. The kid is so behind you that you don't know what is happening with them. There are kidnappers out there.