Civil Rights Attorney Alleges She Faced Discriminatory Treatment At Baltimore’s The Lyric Theater On Mother’s Day–By Management, And White Couple
Colin Benjamin Photos: YouTube Screenshots|Wikimedia Commons In a video interview with the Black Star News, civil rights attorney Veronica Dunlap alleges she faced discriminatory treatment, at Baltimore’s Lyric Theater, on Mother’s Day, where she was celebrating with her son. Due to a mix-up, regarding seating, Dunlap says she, and her son, were verbally attacked by a white couple, and that her complains were met with callous indifference by management, at the Lyric Theater. Dunlap says the outing was a Mother’s Day present from her 24-year-old son, to see the Washington National Opera’s rendition of West Side Story. She states the trouble started because of a misunderstanding due to where she, and her son, were initially seated, seats she says they sat in because: an usher took them to those seats. Dunlap maintains she didn’t realize those seats did not match the numbers on her tickets, until intermission came. During intermission is when Dunlap says the conflict started with a white couple over the seats. After coming back from a intermission bathroom break, Dunlap says that is when she realized they had been sitting in the wrong seats because “now the lights were up.” At this point, her son had not returned yet from the intermission break. Dunlap states a fellow patron then told her “you should report this guy who was yelling at the person who is with you. I am guessing that’s your son? She said he was being very aggressive and yelling at him saying he stole his seats.” Dunlap states when her son returned he confirmed the patron’s story. Her son told her this white “guy was super aggressive. He was standing over me. He was screaming at me saying I ‘broke up his family’ by taking the seat. And I tried to explain to him that the usher had told us to sit there.” Dunlap said her son asked the white man to calm down because he was moving. Dunlap said, after being reassured by her son that he was alright, she then tried to retrieve some snacks that were still by the seats. This is when Dunlap claims she was verbally attacked by a white woman, who was with this same white man. Dunlap alleges when she tried to get popcorn, that was left under one of the seats, the white woman asked her “why did you steal my seats, thief?” After trying to explain they were told to sit there by a usher, Dunlap says the white woman’s response was “Of course it would be you who steals my seat.” Dunlap was taken aback by this comment which seemed to her to be a “dogwhistle, you know, when white people say things like that to me, in my interpretation of that, it is a racial comment.” The white woman then allegedly said, “you should be thrown out of the theater, in fact I am going to call security.” Dunlap says she then told the white woman “No, I will call security because the way you are yelling at me I feel afraid.” However, Dunlap alleges the security, at the Lyric Theater, fairly quickly made the arbitrary decision that she and her son were the guilty parties who needed to be removed. According to Dunlap, there were “six, or seven security people, including a police officer, coming toward us in the aisle.” She says when she tried to explain what happened, the white woman preceded to start yelling loudly “over me.” Despite the behavior of the white woman, Dunlap says the security personnel told her–not the yelling white woman–that she had to leave. Despite her protests, the security detail allegedly forced Dunlap to leave. Dunlap said she did so worrying for her son’s safety. “I am a Black mother, and I am thinking about my son and his reaction to seeing somebody grab his mother. And my number one priority is to make sure he is safe.” Dunlap said just prior to this the police officer had put his hands on her. Dunlap alleges she was forced to leave from inside the theater, but the white belligerent couple was allowed to stay and watch the performance. She expressed the unfairness of this to Lyric security officials telling them, “All of you came out here for me. I am the one who asked for security, because I feared for my safety, and the people who are the aggressors are in there now, in their seats enjoying the show, and here I am outside.” Dunlap states security pulled her son out of the theater also. She then asked to speak to the manager. The Lyric Theater CEO and Manager is Thomas Bailey. Dunlap says when she saw Bailey talking to security she went over to him and asked him “Why would you have me pulled out and the people who were the aggressors, the people who were in the wrong are still sitting in that theater?” Bailey’s answer was allegedly “well you were being aggressive.” Bailey apparently came to this conclusion based on what security told him. Dunlap says she then reminded Bailey she was the one who called for security, in the first place. Dunlap says he then said, “Well we can’t go in there and take the people out now because the show has started. It would be a disrupti
Black News 
Colin Benjamin
Photos: YouTube Screenshots|Wikimedia Commons
In a video interview with the Black Star News, civil rights attorney Veronica Dunlap alleges she faced discriminatory treatment, at Baltimore’s Lyric Theater, on Mother’s Day, where she was celebrating with her son. Due to a mix-up, regarding seating, Dunlap says she, and her son, were verbally attacked by a white couple, and that her complains were met with callous indifference by management, at the Lyric Theater.
Dunlap says the outing was a Mother’s Day present from her 24-year-old son, to see the Washington National Opera’s rendition of West Side Story. She states the trouble started because of a misunderstanding due to where she, and her son, were initially seated, seats she says they sat in because: an usher took them to those seats. Dunlap maintains she didn’t realize those seats did not match the numbers on her tickets, until intermission came.
During intermission is when Dunlap says the conflict started with a white couple over the seats.
After coming back from a intermission bathroom break, Dunlap says that is when she realized they had been sitting in the wrong seats because “now the lights were up.” At this point, her son had not returned yet from the intermission break. Dunlap states a fellow patron then told her “you should report this guy who was yelling at the person who is with you. I am guessing that’s your son? She said he was being very aggressive and yelling at him saying he stole his seats.”
Dunlap states when her son returned he confirmed the patron’s story. Her son told her this white “guy was super aggressive. He was standing over me. He was screaming at me saying I ‘broke up his family’ by taking the seat. And I tried to explain to him that the usher had told us to sit there.” Dunlap said her son asked the white man to calm down because he was moving.
Dunlap said, after being reassured by her son that he was alright, she then tried to retrieve some snacks that were still by the seats. This is when Dunlap claims she was verbally attacked by a white woman, who was with this same white man.
Dunlap alleges when she tried to get popcorn, that was left under one of the seats, the white woman asked her “why did you steal my seats, thief?” After trying to explain they were told to sit there by a usher, Dunlap says the white woman’s response was “Of course it would be you who steals my seat.” Dunlap was taken aback by this comment which seemed to her to be a “dogwhistle, you know, when white people say things like that to me, in my interpretation of that, it is a racial comment.”
The white woman then allegedly said, “you should be thrown out of the theater, in fact I am going to call security.” Dunlap says she then told the white woman “No, I will call security because the way you are yelling at me I feel afraid.”
However, Dunlap alleges the security, at the Lyric Theater, fairly quickly made the arbitrary decision that she and her son were the guilty parties who needed to be removed.
According to Dunlap, there were “six, or seven security people, including a police officer, coming toward us in the aisle.” She says when she tried to explain what happened, the white woman preceded to start yelling loudly “over me.” Despite the behavior of the white woman, Dunlap says the security personnel told her–not the yelling white woman–that she had to leave. Despite her protests, the security detail allegedly forced Dunlap to leave. Dunlap said she did so worrying for her son’s safety. “I am a Black mother, and I am thinking about my son and his reaction to seeing somebody grab his mother. And my number one priority is to make sure he is safe.” Dunlap said just prior to this the police officer had put his hands on her.
Dunlap alleges she was forced to leave from inside the theater, but the white belligerent couple was allowed to stay and watch the performance. She expressed the unfairness of this to Lyric security officials telling them, “All of you came out here for me. I am the one who asked for security, because I feared for my safety, and the people who are the aggressors are in there now, in their seats enjoying the show, and here I am outside.” Dunlap states security pulled her son out of the theater also. She then asked to speak to the manager.
The Lyric Theater CEO and Manager is Thomas Bailey. Dunlap says when she saw Bailey talking to security she went over to him and asked him “Why would you have me pulled out and the people who were the aggressors, the people who were in the wrong are still sitting in that theater?”
Bailey’s answer was allegedly “well you were being aggressive.” Bailey apparently came to this conclusion based on what security told him. Dunlap says she then reminded Bailey she was the one who called for security, in the first place. Dunlap says he then said, “Well we can’t go in there and take the people out now because the show has started. It would be a disruption.” Dunlap says Bailey said he would talk to the white couple after the show was over.
Dunlap said a woman from the Washington National Opera, who apparently was a witness to some of this, told her “that wasn’t right.” This woman took Dunlap’s contact information and told her she would send her tickets “for another show.”
Dunlap says Bailey never spoke to her again. Especially, after speaking with the white couple. Dunlap insists she was never offered an apology. Dunlap also states that an older Black security person told her Bailey offered the white couple a refund, and new tickets.
Dunlap, a career civil rights lawyer (who worked at the ACLU in Maryland) is infuriated by the way she and her son were treated, especially by the Lyric management and CEO Thomas Bailey. Dunlap has filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. Dunlap’s story is now circulating, on social media, and some are pondering whether to launch a boycott against The Lyric Theater.
A change.org petition, denouncing the alleged discriminatory treatment of Veronica Dunlap, is now being circulated online. The petition is calling for the resignation of Thomas Bailey. The petition was started by Chrinia Wexler.
The Black Star News reached out to CEO Thomas Bailey and the Lyric Management but have received no response. However, the Facebook statement they released can be viewed below.
Watch Black Star News video interview with Civil Rights Lawyer Veronica Dunlap
