A group of young Girl Scouts who were protesting animal abuse received threatening racial insults by adults attending a public Cecil County meeting in Maryland last month.
The Girl Scouts had become concerned with animal rights after reading about poor conditions and mistreatment of pets in local shelters. The girls then attended an Animal Care and Control Oversight Commission meeting, bringing homemade signs and speaking up during public comment.
“I felt really bad for the animals because that wasn’t a really good home for them,” said 10 year old Amayah Spurlock.
After the meeting, adults who reportedly were supporters of the animal shelter in question, began harassing the young girls, many of whom are African American, with comments like “go back to Baltimore, where you belong.”
“They were calling us animals and stuff,” 13 year old Arianna Spurlock told ABC News.
In a video recording of the verbal altercation, troop leaders can be heard asking the crowd not to make racial comments. “Saying that they belong in Baltimore because they’re black, that is wrong. Please don’t say that okay?” one man said.
The Girl Scouts were left shaken and confused by the incident. “As kids we always were taught that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all,” said 11 year old Lily Talley, adding “they shouldn’t have done that.”
Cecil County executive Tari Moore has since reached out to the troop and apologized to them, denouncing the treatment of the Scouts, and offering to meet with them to discuss what happened.
Media Resources: ABC WMAR 6/16/15; Raw Story News 6/17/15
