New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Toddler’s BLM shirt stirs up controversy at kids’ gym
HAMDEN — When a 2-yearold’s grandmother brought the child to Rascals Gym last Wednesday morning, she was told the child would have to change before using the indoor playground, according to Janina Tauro.
The child, who is Black, was wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt. Business owner Angie Martin told the family that political slogans were not allowed in the space, said Tauro, who is the child’s mother and learned about the incident later that day.
The events sparked a protest Friday, and a public apology
from Martin followed, the family said.
But the child’s parents said they will be taking their business elsewhere.
“My mom just felt really humiliated and targeted and unsafe in that moment,” Tauro said of the incident. “A gesture like that is really hurtful and racist and just overall targeting us.”
For the family, the Black Lives Matter slogan isn’t about politics, but is an affirmation of their identities and values.
“I think that our bodies — Black and brown bodies — are not political,” Tauro said. “(Black lives matter) is very much a personal belief that we encompass and embody . ... Our life matters to us, and all Black and brown children matter to us, and I think especially when the country itself is based on a value system that often makes Black and brown children the very lowest on that value system, it is even more important to continue shouting that ‘Black lives matter,’ and there isn’t anything political about that.”
Dozens gathered in the Rascals parking lot Friday morning to show their support for Tauro’s family. Many participants wore shirts or held signs that bore the slogan, Black Lives Matter, according to a report by the New Haven Independent, which estimates the event drew roughly 60 participants.
Asked for comment on the matter, Martin sent a written statement indicating the business has long had “a policy that all Rascals Gym participants and accompanying adults refrain from displaying actions, attire or speech that spark heavy, adult conversation.”
But she has decided to change that policy in the wake of last week’s events, she wrote, also apologizing for what occurred.
Martin did not immediately respond to a request for a copy of the original policy, which was put in place because “very early childhood is a special time when our children play together free of the knowledge of religious, racial, ethnic and social differences,” according to the statement.
“At Rascals Gym, I strive to protect that moment in time, in hopes that children will forge new friendships and grow to be empathetic, caring adults who see through these differences,” Martin said.
“My actions of asking an adult to change a young child out of a Black Lives Matter shirt came from this protective place in my heart,” Martin said. “As I am not a person of color, I did not initially see how this request, while wellintended, was hurtful, and in actuality, did not protect that special spark and charisma of a young child.”
“I send my heartfelt apologies to the family I hurt, to the families of Rascals Gym, and to the greater community,” the statement continues. “My actions were insensitive and for this, I am sorry.”
Martin has also placed a sign in the business’ window that reads, “In this house we believe Black lives matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, love and love, kindness is everything.”
But Tauro has decided her daughter will not return to Rascals.
“This isn’t something that can be changed overnight,” she said of the apology.