A law firm for the all-women Afghan robotics staff that managed to flee the Taliban-managed region has informed an Oklahoma mom of 11 to stop getting credit for rescuing them.
Allyson Reneau, 60, was sent a official stop-and-desist letter Thursday by the Digital Citizen Fund — the mother or father organization that oversees the robotics group, the Washington Post reports.
“Continuingly recycling previous photos with the Afghan Girls Robotics Staff, quite a few of whom are minors, as validation that you had everything to do with their immensely demanding and perilous escape not only impacts the basic safety of the girls but it also considerably affects the safety of the users of the crew who continue to continue to be in Afghanistan,” wrote the fund’s attorney, Kim Motley.
“It is extremely unlucky that you would use these types of a tragically awful predicament … for what appears to be your very own personalized achieve.”
Reneau, a Harvard graduate with a master’s degree in global relations and US place policy, met the ladies, ages 16 to 18, in Washington, DC, in 2019 and said she’d preserve make contact with with them.
Photographs of her posing with the robotics group — also recognized as the “Afghan Dreamers” — resurfaced in the very last 7 days.
Reneau informed various US media shops very last 7 days that she had achieved out to a close friend who is effective in the US Embassy in Qatar to assistance facilitate their rescue.
She experienced stated she was scheduling to fly to Qatar herself but eventually remained in the US to support from afar.
The Qatari Overseas Ministry, which worked instantly with the Electronic Citizen Fund to facilitate the rescue, accused Reneau of playing the “white savior.”
“She took the company from the girls and she claimed credit history,” a ministry spokesman instructed the outlet.
“The media let her be a white savior, declaring the ladies had been saved by her. (The women) arrived to world consideration for the reason that of their perform … so it should really be about them and their braveness and the get the job done they have performed. This really should be the tale that the media is focusing on, not a woman who is hundreds of miles absent who is proclaiming credit.”
Reneau, even so, denies she overstated her job in assisting rescue the girls and explained she was puzzled by the “blowback.”
“The consideration I have gotten has permitted me to aid other Afghan women of all ages, so I really don’t see any rationale for me to stop,” she reported.
“I received into this whole offer to rescue people today. That was my objective. I did not want it to turn into a media circus. It is not about me becoming superwoman it’s about these women.”
4 members of the robotics workforce arrived in Mexico Tuesday right after traveling via six nations.
“They have not only saved our lives, but they have also saved our desires,” just one of the young females mentioned of host Mexico, where by they have been greeted by Overseas Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
“Our stories will not sadly stop due to the fact of the Taliban,” the woman, who was putting on a mask, included by way of a translator. “Under this regime, we women of all ages will face difficulties … that is why we are grateful to be in this article.”
It is unclear in which the other group associates are now and the Washington Publish stated some have been however in Afghanistan.