When ignorance about breastfeeding coincides with an irrational fear of terrorists, what do you get?
A very nasty scene at a ritzy New York Country Club, that’s what!
This is exactly what Belgian diplomat Tom Neijens and his wife Roseline Remans discovered when they stopped by the Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, New York on June 8, 2013 and inquired about having lunch.
Club employees permitted the family to dine on the terrace despite the fact that they weren’t members, whereupon Remans began to discreetly breastfeed her daughter Luka at the table.
Neijens, first secretary of the Belgium Mission to the UN, told the New York Post that a female employee of the club quickly interrupted Roseline’s perfectly legal and proper feeding of her baby with this sharp rebuke:
“Please leave immediately, you are disturbing the members!”
When Neijens protested and said it would only take a few minutes, the female staffer insisted that Remans finish in the restroom.
Understandably incredulous at the blatant ignorance on display at such a high end establishment, Mr. Neijens inquired why a baby would be asked to have lunch in the restroom when adults are not.
The Greenburgh Police Department arrived minutes later with Detective Scott Harding apparently yelling, “Close the doors!” with two other diners ordered to leave the terrace.
Mr. Neijens described the chaotic scene as something straight out of a Western movie with the officer walking around like John Wayne with “one hand on his gun, one hand on his Taser.”
The officer warned the couple that they were trespassing despite the fact that country club staff had given them specific permission to dine. He also said that some fearful members thought Mr. Neijens’ black backpack indicated they were terrorists.
Most laughable if not actually true, is what the officer came out with next when a tearful Ms. Remans asked why terrorists would breastfeed at a ritzy club:
“In Sri Lanka, babies are used by terrorists.”
Well, you learn something new every day, don’t you?
Attention all breastfeeding mothers. Your milk engorged breasts are actually considered weapons of mass destruction by law enforcement authorities. That liquid is NOT food for your baby. It is actually highly explosive material that could detonate at any time, sparking a chain of events identified by the media as bona fide terrorist activity.
Detective Harding quickly backed off his ridiculous posturing when Mr. Neijens revealed his State Department issued identification.
He dismissed his over the top behavior by explaining that the club had received terrorist threats in the past.
Despite the fact that they were doing nothing illegal or improper and possessed proper identification, the couple was still escorted off the premises via the back door.
A few days later, Mr Neijens sent an e-mail demanding an apology from Country Club general manager Tracy Fraus and assistant general manager Audra Vaccari.
“I am deeply worried about your staff if they cannot distinguish between a European couple looking for a quiet place to breast-feed a baby and suicide terrorists carrying a backpack.”
Lt. B.J. Ryan, a spokesman for the Greenburgh Police Department, labeled the incident as a simple “cultural misunderstanding.”
Ahem. On behalf of breastfeeding mothers everywhere, I beg to differ.
Breasts are not “cultural” and there is no “misunderstanding” their true purpose. They are the universal instrument for optimal feeding of babies.
Not “boob grenades”.
Hard to believe the terrorism handbook didn’t cover this point properly.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources:
Belgian diplomat booted from golf club, treated “like terrorists” over wife’s breastfeeding
Couple “treated like terrorists” over breastfeeding and backpack at ritzy restaurant
STUPID has gone to a new level.
The employees of this country club are fools.
The police that responded are even more of a joke.
This couple should get a shark lawyer and sue everyone involved!
It IS LEGAL to breastfeed a baby in the State of New York in all places of public accommodations. The couple should sue the City of Greenburg and the country Club. They should demand training for all police department personnel in that silly little town. And as well, they should initiate a complaint with the New York State Civil Rights Division. Lastly, their Embassy should begin an official complaint against the Club, the appropriate staff, and the City officials for a violation of the Vienna Convention on the status of diplomats. http://www.nyclu.org/publications/your-breastfeeding-rights-new-york
Are you even a member of a club? Clubs have the right to set their house rules, just as they are allowed to discriminate when selecting members.
I’ve nursed in church discretly no one noticed or cared
What would you expect from a bunch of snobby rich a holes at a country club?
Ah, but they have to ensure that only ‘the right kind of people’ visit the club. Clearly, a breast-feeding mother is not the kind of person they would consider socialising with. Or maybe the club members are the Dominique Strauss Kahn kind, and the staff were worried for the mother’s safety?
I wonder about little Luka too, would she be bullied and rejected by her peers at school for having been breastfed? Or would a private school reject her application on the grounds that she was breastfed?
The idea of breastfeeding your baby in the loo is also quite bizarre.
This was just ignorance on the part of the country club and puritanical BS. They were shocked that anyone would breastfeed in public, considered it ‘lewd’, called the police, who THEN learned the couple was not American, and translated that into ‘boob bombs’. The country club needs to fire some people, and so does the police force. The police should have pulled the caller aside and threatened them with jail, that would have been the end of it. Travellers, beware. America DOES insist for the most part that babies eat in the toilet, not out where people can see boobs being used in the way they are DESIGNED to work.
Maybe it’s a “Cultural Misunderstanding” because it did not happen in Sri-Lanka. I think in Sri-Lanka they have no issues with breasfeeding in public.
“Cultural Misunderstanding”??? I’m sorry…but um, this was a place in the United States of America, not Sri-Lanka and this couple are not Sri-Lanken…so um, why would this be labeled as “Cultural Misunderstanding”…yes as someone else stated…ignorance, pure ignorance…and a way of getting out of saying “I’m sorry for telling you to not feed your baby and for mistaking your boobs as bombs.” Oh and it also sounds like the cops have special in’s with the club because they were stupid enough to cave to the owners and diners or maybe they knew that somebody with influence could change the status of their jobs. Regardless, this is stupid, ridiculous and really hilarious when you think of it. Boob bombs….AHHHHH, everyone run for your lives!!! Oh and maybe it’s the new movement against raw, unpasteurized milk causing problems…because you all know that it’s terribly detrimental to your health!!!!
Also, I am sure that these “diners” and “staff” at the high society, snobby cafe have never stepped foot into a Victoria’s secret and when their ads come on TV they close their eyes and when a gal walks by them with a shirt that leaves nothing to the imagination they put their hand up to hide their eyes or tell her to go somewhere else because she is bothering them. That being said, I still agree with the idea that women need to breastfeed discreetly and not have their boobs out for all to see. That is for their family alone.