For anyone not familiar with Boston, you’d have to be insane to walk through gang-infested Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan at night if you’re not from the area.

Via Boston Globe:

The dapper man in the dark suit was surrounded by students, many of them looking at him with growing incredulity.

They had flown the French flag in his honor and welcomed him with local pastries and a handwritten sign that read “Bienvenue.” Random students stuck their heads out of classrooms, offering the diplomat a giddy “Bonjour.”

For weeks, Codman Academy Charter Public School had been awaiting the arrival of Fabien Fieschi, the consul general of France in Boston, whom they had tried to confront months earlier at his Back Bay office. They wanted an explanation for why his government has advised French tourists to avoid walking at night in their Dorchester neighborhood, as well as in Roxbury and Mattapan, because of concerns about crime. […]

He also cited a letter he sent the school after students came unannounced to his office in November.

“The solution probably does not consist of ‘shooting the messenger,’ ” he wrote, “but in making sure that neighborhoods that suffer more than others from crime benefit from improvements in their situation.”

Students called the Foreign Ministry’s travel warnings racist, noting they advised French nationals to avoid areas mainly where members of minority groups live. Fieschi rejected that notion, saying that if there were a spike in crime on Beacon Hill, he would immediately advise the ministry to warn citizens to be cautious there.

“I understand he wants to look out for his people, but to cast our neighborhood in a negative way is just wrong,” said Shantelle Stewart, 17, a senior. “It was hurtful what he said.”

While happy that the consul general accepted their invitation, Meg Campbell, the school’s executive director, said she was disappointed. “I am distressed that he doesn’t seem to be able to hear us,” she said. “He’s very stuck in his view.”

“We’re adamant that the warnings be changed,” she said afterward. “It’s frustrating that he doesn’t seem amenable to change.”

For his part, Fieschi said he was walking away with things to think about. He said the ministry has debated whether it is worth the uproar incurred by the specificity of the warnings. He noted the ministry has been accused of racism elsewhere in the United States as a result of its advisories.