Georgia college students sue over blocked protest against rebel flag

ATLANTA (AP) — A number of Black students who had been suspended for trying to protest Confederate flag displays at their school in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit towards their school district and its board members, accusing them of allowing an extensive pattern of racism including “overt bigotry and animosity by some white college students and lecturers towards African American students.”

The students, joined by their moms as plaintiffs, already made news when their protest at Coosa Excessive Faculty was stifled last fall.

Now, of their lawsuit filed Tuesday in opposition to the Floyd County school district and its board members, they allege an intensive sample of racism, including white college students reenacting the murder of George Floyd and posting it on social media, and a student who carried what seemed to be a whip and informed a Black scholar “we used to whip you.”

In addition they allege unfair punishment: Students are banned from sporting Black Lives Matter shirts, however Confederate flag attire is suitable beneath the varsity’s dress code, the lawsuit says.

The swimsuit faults directors for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward black college students perpetrated by white college students and lecturers; as well as the school’s viewpoint discrimination in its gown code and the inconsistent administration of disciplinary insurance policies to the detriment of Black college students.”

Becoming a member of the scholars as plaintiffs are their mothers, Lekisha Turner and Jessica Murray. Murray claims she was pulled over by a police officer after picking up the suspended youngsters, and detained till faculty officials offered her with a letter threatening felony trespassing charges if she was found again on faculty grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday stated the district disputes the allegations but had been suggested by lawyers to not get into specifics right now. “The Floyd County school system appears forward to presenting the info on this example in court docket,” White told The Related Press in a phone interview.

Coosa Excessive close to Rome is in the coronary heart of northwest Georgia’s conservative 14th Congressional District, which despatched Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress. About 10% of the school’s greater than 800 college students in grades 8-12 are Black, state enrollment figures present. About 58% are white, whereas 26% are Hispanic and the the rest are multiracial or another race.

The lawsuit accuses college officers of making “an environment the place sure viewpoints including white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted but speech of an ideologically different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

When a gaggle of scholars sought to protest the power of their classmates to wear the Confederate flag on campus, the principal threatened student Deserae Turner that she may very well be jailed for “instigating a riot,” the lawsuit says. The principal additionally announced over the intercom that any pupil protesting and even possessing a flyer announcing the protest can be disciplined.

The lawsuit alleges that 4 Black plaintiffs who organized the protest had been suspended for five days, whereas nonblack pupil organizers weren't disciplined. Attorneys additionally allege the preemptive shutdown of the protest and calls for that students not post on social media violated students’ First Modification rights. A fifth scholar who was not suspended has additionally sued.

The go well with says gown code rules allowing Confederate flag attire however not Black Lives Matter apparel are illegal viewpoint discrimination by a government company, which additionally violates the First Modification. It says the district additionally has violated the students’ and parents’ right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Amongst different treatments, the plaintiffs demand that the school district be blocked from additional punishing the scholars due to their speech, remove prior punishments from school information and pay money damages.

Among the many legal professionals bringing the go well with is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer looking for the Democratic nomination for lawyer common in Massachusetts.

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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.