OBERLIN, Ohio — The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is responding to backlash after promoting a Black History Month program with a flier that featured only photos of five white performers.
The flier was posted Sunday on social media to promote the last event of its month-long Black History Month Celebration.
The now-deleted posted received more than 2,000 comments and 2,000 shares, with one social media user saying “This is stupid. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
In a statement, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music acknowledged the post was "problematic."
“While the program showcased Black composers, the flier featured only photos of the five white performers. We acknowledge wholeheartedly that this was problematic, and we accept and agree with the many critiques we have received in response,” the school wrote in response on Facebook.
The school acknowledged the mistake, saying “we are deeply sorry.”
"We acknowledge that it was a mistake to post this event out of context, and without pictures of the composers themselves, and we are deeply sorry. We will continue to be reflective and consider our policies moving forward in order to prevent a post of this nature from happening in the future."
Read the full statement in the Facebook post below.
