A Cub Scout in Broomfield has been kicked out of his den, allegedly for asking pointed questions of a Colorado state senator at meeting organized by the Boy Scouts.
Eleven-year-old Ames Mayfield, a fifth-grader at Prospect Ridge Academy and a Scout for five years, on Oct. 9 asked Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, questions about gun control, and about comments Marble made at a 2013 legislative hearing on poverty about mortality rates among African-Americans.
The boy’s mother, Lori Mayfield, on Wednesday said Ames was kicked out of his den, or Scout group, as a result.
“He is still kind of reeling from this,” Mayfield said. “He is really sensitive, my heart breaks for him.”
Ames’ questions, and other Scouts’ questions, were recorded and posted on YouTube by Mayfield in a video titled “Vicki Marble denies chicken-gate.”
“I was astonished that you blamed black people for poor health and poverty because of all the chicken and barbecue they eat,” Ames said to Marble at the Scout meeting.
“I didn’t, that was made up by the media,” Marble replied. “So, you want to believe it? You believe it. But that’s not how it went down. I didn’t do that. That was false. Get both sides of the story.”
In 2013 Marble said: “When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race. Sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up. Diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup, and you just can’t help it.
“Although I’ve got to say,” she continued at the time. “I’ve never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down South and you, I mean, I love it. Everybody loves it.”
On Oct. 9, at the den presentation, Marble, speaking to the Scouts in calm, measured tones, responded, in part, to Ames’ question: “We have multicultural foods in the United States and we are very blessed to have it. And we all love it and we all eat it. And we just better figure out our genetics.”
Marble went on to tell the Scouts that she’s from a multi-ethnic background that includes “black, Mexican…Jew…Native American” and the “lousy Irish!” People in the audience chuckled.
“Decisions about who is in or out of a den are internal organizational matters that I won’t second guess,” Marble, majority caucus chair, said Wednesday night in an email to The Post. “I don’t blame the boy for asking the questions, since I believe there was an element of manipulation involved, and it wasn’t much different from the questions I normally field in other meetings. The invitation to meet with the scouts was never intended to cause friction and controversy.”
Prior to the den meeting, Ames researched Marble, his mother said, as the Scouts knew she would be speaking. Ames formulated the questions he would ask, she said.
“The only coaching I gave him was to be respectful,” Mayfield said. “Don’t be argumentative, preface things ‘with all due respect.'”
A den leader was upset by Ames’ line of questioning, Mayfield said. She is looking for a new den for Ames to join.
“I felt my son followed directions. He asked hard questions, but he was not disrespectful,” she said.
“The Denver Area Council is evaluating this matter closely and will treat all parties with dignity and respect,” said Nicole Cosme, marketing director of the Boy Scouts of America Denver Area Council.
Cosme added that the Boy Scouts is “a wholly nonpartisan organization and does not promote any one political position, candidate or philosophy.”
Other Scouts asked Marble about the border wall, fossil fuels, and voting for President Barack Obama. No other Scout was dismissed from the den, Mayfield said.
Ames was offered membership in other dens, Cosme said. She declined to go into detail about the meeting with Marble.
“We would like Ames to stay in Cub Scouts and become a Boy Scout,” Cosme said.
