Maryland Civil Rights Leaders Travel On Bus Tour To Address Systemic Racism & Police Misconduct
CAMBRIDGE, Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland Civil Rights leaders traveled across the Eastern Shore on a bus tour to remind Marylanders of the need to eliminate systemic racism and police misconduct on Monday.
The bus tour on a mission traveling over 100 miles across Maryland's Eastern Shore on Monday to send the message that change needs to happen now and systemic racism needs to be addressed. They also want to express their concerns about the recent violent teen arrests on the boardwalk in Ocean City.
"We are mobilizing, organizing and energizing the community to make it crystal clear that what happened in Ocean City, Maryland is unacceptable," said Carl Snowden with Caucus of African American Leaders.
A group of Black teens were arrested in June for vaping including one who was repeatedly kneed by Ocean City Police. Tour organizers said the incident is just one example of racial injustice and police misconduct that's happened here and they want people to know that they won't stand for it.
"We're going from one city align Maryland's Eastern Shore stopping and reminding people that in Ocean City, Maryland that what occurred there was not an aberration," Snowden added.
The tour is similar to the freedom rides of the 1960s that were designed to highlight racial inequities in the south -- This group has the same goal. They made stops in towns from Annapolis to Ocean City to voice their concerns about the way the teens on the boardwalk and other African-Americans have been treated.
"We have to stand up for what is wrong, irregardless of who doesn't," said George Robert Albs Jr. of Cambridge.
Civil rights leaders are scheduled to meet with Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan on Monday evening and are hoping this tour will start to change some of these policies that they say are causing systemic racism.
