Six Flags Comments on the Black Lives Matter Shirt Controversy at Georgia Theme Park
Six Flags apologizes for a recent incident at their Georgia theme park involving a family being reprimanded for wearing Black Lives Matter apparel.
This past weekend, Maya Miller and her three children were notified by a Six Flags security guard in Georgia that, due to their bold, Black Lives Matter clothing, they may be asked to prematurely leave the park. The guard clumsily clarified that their politically charged Black Lives Matter shirts were welcomed in the park, so long as fellow park guests did not complain. In other words, a bold backing of Black Lives Matter or a firm anti-racism stance was celebrated so long as racist customers were not insulted or inspired to stop visiting the park. According to WSBT, the theme parked expressed their “deep regret” over this disturbing incident.
Six Flags Over Georgia is expressing “deep regret” over an incident last week in which a security guard stopped a mother and her three children because they were wearing shirts with slogans associated with the Black Lives Matters movement. https://t.co/GmSVoMhzIQ
— WSBT (@WSBT) June 26, 2020
Miller, stunned by the guard’s reaction, reported the incident.
Black Mom Says Six Flags Over Georgia Attempted To Turn Her Family Away Because They Were Wearing Black Lives Matter Shirts https://t.co/6WJhfk4ewG
— The Black Detour (@theblackdetour) June 26, 2020
Six Flags issued the following apology:
“We deeply regret this incident. Six Flags strongly condemns any form of racism or intolerance. Our Park President has spoken to the Miller family and offered our sincere apologies. We look forward to welcoming them back to the park as our special guests. To be clear, the shirts in question are permissible; the family was never asked to leave the park and they continued with their visit. Six Flags take matters like this seriously and we immediately retrained our park security team members and are in the process of conducting diversity and inclusiveness training across the entire organization.”
I wonder what the story would have been had the shirt said Blue Lives Matter? #BlueLivesMatters #PoliceLivesMatter Six Flags responds to Black Lives Matter shirt incident at Georgia theme parkhttps://t.co/RbEvEPwqRN
— Ron Hawkins (@K1KJR) June 26, 2020
In addition to the apology, Six Flags is scheduled to meet with Miller to further discuss the incident. We are absolutely dismayed by the event, but hopeful after seeing Six Flags swift apology and plans to meet with Miller. Black lives matter and if shirts make people feel “uncomfortable” then maybe we, as a nation, should reform our actions so that the slogans on the shirts regarding police brutality are no longer true.
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