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'Unbelievably insensitive': Indianapolis Children's Museum SLAMMED for serving Juneteenth watermelon salad

Users slammed the museum for the label and some argued that the ill-conceived move further highlighted how some don’t take the federal holiday seriously

The Indianapolis Children's Museum is in deep trouble after serving people a racially insensitive dish, referring to Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. This came to attention after one of the visitors named Jackson Moon, officially known as Jackson Adams, took to his Facebook account and shared a picture of a salad with a label that read "Juneteenth Watermelon Salad", and captioned it, “Racially insensitive salads. NOBODY BLACK ASKED FOR THIS!”
 
Soon after the post was shared, people took to social media to express their outrage. After facing widespread criticism online, The Indianapolis Children's Museum issued an apology. “As a museum, we apologize and acknowledge the negative impact that stereotypes have on communities of color. The salad has been removed from the menu. We are currently reviewing how we may best convey these stories and traditions during this year’s Juneteenth celebration as well as making changes around how future food selections are made by our food service provider," the apology read.

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"Our food service provider uses the food and beverage menu to commemorate and raise awareness of holidays like Juneteenth. The team that made this selection included their staff members who based this choice of food on their own family traditions," the statement further read.

However, it didn't go down well with the netizens. One said, "Sure apologizing for invoking racist stereotypes for a holiday celebrating Black America's release from slavery. But the Indianapolis Children's museum working to keep Black families as their neighbors would be better."

Another said, "So, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis thought it would be kosher to create a “Juneteenth Watermelon Salad.” … no, we’re not accepting y’all’s apology. Y’all know what y’all be doing! I hate y’all."

"First the stupidity from Walmart and now the #Indianapolis Children's Museum thought it was okay to have a watermelon salad to celebrate #Juneteenth. This is unbelievably insensitive and inappropriate," said another user, voicing her frustration with the repeated racist occurrence.

Walmart also was in the hot water recently after people received racist emails. The retail giant quickly apologized to the people who received the emails containing the n-word. As per CNN Business, they said someone outside the company created fake accounts on its site using the email addresses of the individuals in question. 

"We are very sorry that you received an offensive and unacceptable email," Walmart's Chief Customer Officer Janey Whiteside said in an email to those who had received the message. "We are working to update the account sign-up process to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again," he added.

The symbol of racist trope

According to the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, after slavery was abolished, some black people in the South grew and sold watermelon to provide for their families and it became a "symbol of their freedom". But during the Jim Crow era, the fruit went on to be used as an excuse to call the entire section of the black people as being lazy. "Many Southern whites reacted to this self-sufficiency by turning the fruit into a symbol of poverty," a blog by the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture states.