“Mistake”

Recall the Smithsonian Museum student visitors who were ejected from the Museum by its guards for the heinous crime of wearing pro-life ball caps. The Museum’s management has responded to House Republicans requests for status and repercussions.

“This was an aberration and not reflective of Smithsonian values and practice of welcoming all visitors regardless of viewpoint,” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said. “Visitors are not to be denied access based on messages on their clothing, and an error was made in this regard on January 20, 2023.”
When asked whether disciplinary action would be taken, Bunch responded, “The instruction to visitors to remove their pro-life hats was a mistake – a misinterpretation of what was permissible. It was not a willful violation.

The museum’s guards were acting out of mistake, so they’ll skate with no consequences.

Sure. The ejection might have been a mistake. I don’t think it was, but if it was, why aren’t the museum’s training and evaluation personnel—the ones who trained these guards and then marked them ready for duty—under sanction for their failed training and evaluation?

Regardless, stipulate the guards’ ejections of the students was a mistake. That wasn’t all that the Museum personnel did to these students. Per Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, which is representing the students,

The museum staff mocked the students, called them expletives, and made comments that the museum was a “neutral zone” where they could not express such statements[.]

That behavior was not a mistake; it was deliberately done. Why aren’t the guards being punished for that?

It looks like the Smithsonian, under current management, isn’t worth the moneys committed to supporting it.

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