{"id":170884,"date":"2024-03-29T18:02:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T18:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=170884"},"modified":"2024-03-29T18:02:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T18:02:44","slug":"moma-apologizes-after-misidentifying-palestinian-keffiyeh-as-prohibited-banner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/art-events\/moma-apologizes-keffiyeh-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"MoMA Apologizes After Misidentifying Palestinian Keffiyeh as Prohibited Banner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in <a href=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/special-interest\/top-5-new-york-city-museums\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York<\/a> found itself at the center of controversy when it prevented two visitors from entering due to their Palestinian keffiyeh, a headscarf often seen as a symbol of Palestinian liberation.<\/p>\n<p>This decision led to an apology from the institution.<\/p>\n           <!--  <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n                jQuery(document).ready(function() {\r\n                    jQuery(\".key-accordion-item .key-menu\").on(\"click\", function() {\r\n                        if (jQuery(this).parent().hasClass(\"active\")) {\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                        } else {\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-content\").slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-accordion-item\").removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().addClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideDown();\r\n                        }\r\n                    });\r\n                })\r\n            <\/script> -->\r\n\r\n\r\n            <!-- start html -->\r\n\r\n            <div class=\"news-key-takeaway-wapper\">\r\n                                <span style=\"background-color:#4db2ee;\">Key Takeaways<\/span>\r\n                <ul class=\"news-key-nbox\" style=\"border-color:#4db2ee;background-color:rgba(77, 178, 238, 0.1);\">\r\n                                                        <li>MoMA security mistakenly barred visitors with a Palestinian keffiyeh from entering the museum, identifying it as a banned item.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The incident led to public outcry and a social media debate, highlighting cultural sensitivity issues.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>MoMA apologized, clarifying that keffiyehs were never on the prohibited items list, and reviewed their security policies.<\/li>\r\n                                                <\/ul>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            \n<h2>Moma Apologizes After Mistakenly Barring Visitors Wearing Palestinian Keffiyeh<\/h2>\n<p>The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York recently <b>apologized for an incident where security staff prevented two visitors<\/b>, Ju-Hyun Park and their friend Phuong, from entering.<\/p>\n<p>This is due to mistakenly identifying a Palestinian keffiyeh as a prohibited banner.<\/p>\n<p>The incident occurred on March 16, during a routine bag check, where the <b>staff&#8217;s misinterpretation of the cultural symbol led to the denial of entry<\/b> \u2014 despite attempts to find a compromise.<\/p>\n<h2>Public Outcry and MoMA&#8217;s Response to the Keffiyeh Incident<\/h2>\n<p>After being denied entry and subsequently re-entering the museum by concealing the scarf, <b>Ju-Hyun Park criticized MoMA&#8217;s actions on social media<\/b>, labeling them as &#8220;brazenly racist.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MuseumModernArt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@MuseumModernArt<\/a> I was just denied entry to your museum because I had a keffiyeh. The manager and security staff refused to explain their reasoning. Why do you have such a brazenly racist anti-Palestinian policy?<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \ubc15\uc8fc\ud604 (@hermit_hwarang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hermit_hwarang\/status\/1769092715227013629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">March 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The museum <b>underwent a review process<\/b>, determining the keffiyeh&#8217;s misidentification during bag screening.<\/p>\n<p>They later issued an apology, stating, &#8220;We made a mistake and we apologize. Keffiyehs are not, and have never been, on the Museum\u2019s list of prohibited items.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Debate Over Cultural Symbols and Security Measures at MoMA<\/h2>\n<p>The prohibition policy at MoMA includes \u201cbanners, signs and flags,\u201d along with any items that could endanger the art or visitors,<b> leaving the final decision to the museum&#8217;s security team<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>The museum&#8217;s stance on the keffiyeh <b>sparked a debate<\/b>, as some social media users shared their experiences of entering MoMA with the headscarf.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, others referenced a recent pro-Palestine protest at the museum as a possible reason for the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10026,"featured_media":170892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[852],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}