In what seems to be an ongoing saga of white people not minding their business, #SidewalkSusie, offensively, interfered with mom, Alyson Laliberte, and her child while the toddler played outside of their Cambridge home.
The filmed interaction, which has now gone viral, showed Theresa Lund, a Harvard University-affiliated research executive director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, sitting on the sidewalk accusing Laliberte and her three-year-old daughter, who is biracial, of bothering her children while they napped.
Laliberte wrote on Facebook that Lund asked her repeatedly if she lived in an “affordable unit” at the complex where they both resided. The woman insinuated that Laliberte couldn’t have possibly afforded to live there without some form of assistance. She reported that the exchange began after Lund complained that her toddler daughter was playing loudly outside. Lund asked if she would “move so [Lund’s] kids can nap” inside.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Laliberte claimed Lund “followed me around and harassed me trying to get my information and apartment number as if she had a right to know.”
“When I wouldn’t tell her, she proceeded to ask me if I lived in the ‘affordable apartments’ of the building for Cambridge residents,” she wrote.
Laliberte called the comments “discriminating” and “racist.”
In an e-mail sent to the Globe, Lund, said she was “terribly sorry” for the interaction she had with her neighbor on Saturday, and admitted her reaction to the situation was “inappropriate and wrong.”
“I want to be accountable for my actions in a situation where I fell far short of my values and what I expect of myself,” Lund said. “This clearly wasn’t my best moment, and I have work to do to more consistently be my best self.”
It looks like Lund’s profile had been removed from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s website following the backlash, and her LinkedIn profile had also been deleted.
Officials at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where the initiative is based, couldn’t immediately be reached for any further comment.
