The apology released Wednesday on Facebook comes almost two weeks after members of the Boston Police Department staged near the school on May 31, a day of protests against racial injustice largely triggered by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. Boston police officers were given permission to use the bathrooms inside the Berklee Performance Center, outlets report.
"Allowing police officers into the space was in no way meant to undermine Berklee's support for Black Lives Matter," the apology, cosigned by Berklee's President Roger Brown, its chief financial officer, and its public safety chief, said.
"The decision to allow them into our facilities was ours. This was not a formal decision by the institution, but an informal one, made on the spot."
Country band Lady Antebellum joins woke mob, apologizes and changes name because... slavery
US country music band Lady Antebellum have changed their name after "personal reflection" and conversations with their "closest black friends" amid widespread protests over the death of George Floyd.
The Grammy-winning group announced the change through social media on Thursday, with a long statement from members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. They will now be called Lady A.
"We've watched and listened more than ever these last few weeks, and our hearts have been stirred with conviction, our eyes opened wide to the injustices, inequality and biases black women and men have always faced and continue to face everyday," the statement reads.
The members claim the "antebellum" name initially came from the location of the band's first photo shoot, which felt very southern, but they apologized for not taking "into account the associations that weigh down this word," including slavery.
"Antebellum" is a word long associated in the US with the historical period before the American Civil War and after the War of 1812, particularly in the South.
'Don't mention the war!' Episode of cult comedy Fawlty Towers scrubbed amid 'racism' purge
The most famous episode of a 1970s sitcom, making fun of a British hotel dealing with German tourists, has been yanked from a BBC-run streaming service amid a censorship spree against anything that could be deemed "racist."
"The Germans" was one of the just twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers, a comedy starring John Cleese (of 'Monty Python' fame) as Basil Fawlty, the hapless owner of a struggling hotel in Devon, that featured the memorable punchline, "Don't mention the war!"
British media reported on Thursday that it has been pulled from the BBC's streaming service UKTV.
Fantasy racism: Magic the Gathering bans 'controversial' playing cards
The ongoing international purge of things that might be potentially considered racist has now reached Magic the Gathering, the world's biggest fantasy trading card game. Its makers just banned seven of the playing cards.
"The events of the past weeks and the ongoing conversation about how we can better support people of color have caused us to examine ourselves, our actions, and our inactions," MtG makers Wizards of the Coast said in a statement on Wednesday.
The seven cards eliminated from the MtG roster going forward are Invoke Prejudice, Cleanse, Stone-Throwing Devils, Pradesh Gypsies, Jihad, Imprison and Crusade. They will be removed from official databases and prohibited in "all sanctioned tournament play." Their ban is just a "first step," as the company added on Twitter that "there's much more work to be done."
In addition to some of their names considered to be 'politically incorrect,' some of the fans have objected to descriptions of their effects as well.
For example, the 'Crusade' card has the effect of empowering "white creatures" and 'Cleanse' destroys "all black creatures" - albeit referring to colors of magic schools in the game, not anyone's race. Meanwhile, the card ID number for 'Invoke Prejudice' happens to be 1488, a number given symbolic significance among US neo-Nazis.
In days not long gone by they would have. It's time to push back.
R.C.