Statement on Rope Noose at Aberdeen High School

Today we learned that a teacher at Aberdeen High School returned to the classroom, after being away for two days, to hate.

A rope noose along with three messages were waiting. The graffiti appeared to be written by three different individuals; one message was particularly hateful and racist.

NAACP of Harford County would like to be able to be shocked by this, but the reality is that racially motivated hate happens far too often here. It happens in schools, in the workplace, in the halls of government and at home. And it must stop. There is zero tolerance for this in our community, and especially in the public school system.

We thank the Aberdeen Police Department, Aberdeen High School, and Harford County Public Schools for swiftly condemning this action and for their promise to investigate it fully. We expect full transparency from the district. We expect the perpetrators to be expelled and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

We stand ready to work with the school district in any we can to find a way to instill tolerance and understanding instead of hate. And we stand ready to work with our communities to learn how to be allies against bigotry. We are better and stronger as a County when we support each other.

“Unfortunately, I think few are surprised that something like this has happened, but we should all be outraged. There should be zero tolerance by APD and HCPS for this kind of hate and we expect actions to be thorough and swift,” said Vicki Jones, President. “We need to do better. We need to teach our children to do better.”

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Contact:
Harford County NAACP
Gina Kazimir, Communications Chair
Branch7019_B@harconaacp.org
(443) 619-7908