Muslim family subjected to racist abuse at the British Museum receive an apology

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A Muslim family who were visiting the British Museum have received an apology for racially profiling their six-year-old kid. It has been reported that a member of staff allegedly called the young girl a “security risk”.

The child’s mother complained to the museum authorities about the horrific incident which took place when she was posing for pictures at a set of doors on June 25.

She termed the staff member as being “aggressive” and said that family was subjected to intensive questioning asking “why are you photographing the door?”

It was also pointed out by an Islamophobia monitoring group that there were other families getting pictures clicked at the same spot and no one was violating any of the rules set by the museum.

The members of the family were clicking pictures near an entrance to the museum foregrounded by two lions and a bust of King Edward VII, when they were allegedly approached by the staff member. They said that they felt targeted due to their ethnic background and traditional clothing.

After the mother escalated her complaint, she received communication from the museum in September mentioning that an ‘outcome was issued’ to the person who subjected the family to racist abuse. The museum reportedly conducted an internal investigation, however, it is not clear what the outcome issued to the employee entails.

In an email, the British Museum apologised to the family for the staff’s behaviour and said that they were ‘sorry’ that the incident had caused them ‘such distress’. They also said that they hope it won’t discourage the family from visiting again.

This incident took place five days before another incident was reported where two Birmingham men, Altaf Kazi and Umar Malik, who were visiting the Central London museum were asked by a security guard about ‘bombs’ whilst getting their bags checked.