Subscribe
Hellobeautiful Featured Video
CLOSE
A female teacher walking around class during an exam session, Cape Town, South Africa

Source: BFG Images / Getty

Students from Harford County won’t be visiting Baltimore any time soon to soak up the city’s rich culture. The school district, which is 80 percent white, has a ban on sending their kids to Charm City.

School officials “pointed to unrest in the city following the death of Freddie Gray, which took place last April,” Think Progress wrote.

Jillian Lader, a spokesperson from the school district that is 80 percent white, said that the ban is justified, especially with the current trial against the officers who killed Gray.

“Information we received from various law enforcement agencies… following the riots and relating to potential issues that may occur during the first and subsequent trials,” she said.

We would love to see this “information” Ms. Lader is talking about.

However, there is a caveat: Students can attend certain sporting events in Baltimore given that they are in a “more controlled environments” and only if they have “playoff implications,” the Baltimore Sun pointed out.

Ironically, school districts surrounding Harford County don’t seem to have this same bad taste in their mouth about Baltimore. While they suspended trips last April, their ban has been fully lifted and students have been sent into the city with “no issue,” Think Progress noted.

Meanwhile Harford County continues to be afraid of the “big, Black boogeyman.”

Not everyone is happy with the school’s decision to segregate their children from the city that is 63 percent African-American.

“I’d like to get some common sense inserted into this policy, and I’d like for the Board of Education to explain to the student body what their policy is and why. They’re really doing a disservice to their students when they instill this fear and mistrust of Baltimore City residents,” Scott McGill Sr., whose attends a Harford County school, told the Baltimore Sun.

Even elected politicians have criticized the school for its racially motivated policy.

“When I heard about this continuing ban on school travel to Baltimore, I was, frankly, totally flummoxed. It seems so outrageous as to be actually sad,” Brooke Lierman, a Maryland delegate who represents Baltimore, told the Baltimore Sun.

And Twitter has also sounded off:

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to protect your children, but there is something wrong when what drives that desire is rooted in steep racial stereotypes about Black people being inherently violent seeking to harm “innocent” white people. When you breed fear and perpetuate more bias, it’s you that is putting your children in harm’s way, not us.

[SOURCES: Think Progress, Baltimore Sun]

RELATED LINKS:

BREAKING: #BlackLivesMatter Activist DeRay Mckesson Is Running For Mayor Of Baltimore

One Of Howard’s Finest Is Putting An End To Hunger Among Baltimore’s Homeless

What Is Really Up With Baltimore? Hundreds Of Poor, Local Black Children Are Suffering From Lead Poisoning

The grand return of the Melanin Awards amplifies and honors the finest Black-owned beauty brands with honest reviews, and discusses the evolution of beauty in Hip-Hop culture.