Georgia college students sue over blocked protest towards rebel flag

ATLANTA (AP) — Several Black students who were suspended for making an attempt to protest Accomplice flag displays at their school in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit towards their college district and its board members, accusing them of permitting an extensive pattern of racism including “overt bigotry and animosity by some white students and teachers against African American students.”

The scholars, joined by their mothers as plaintiffs, already made news when their protest at Coosa Excessive College was stifled final fall.

Now, in their lawsuit filed Tuesday towards the Floyd County faculty district and its board members, they allege an intensive pattern of racism, including white students reenacting the homicide of George Floyd and posting it on social media, and a pupil who carried what appeared to be a whip and informed a Black scholar “we used to whip you.”

They also allege unfair punishment: Students are banned from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, but Confederate flag attire is appropriate underneath the varsity’s gown code, the lawsuit says.

The go well with faults administrators for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity towards black students perpetrated by white college students and lecturers; in addition to the varsity’s viewpoint discrimination in its dress code and the inconsistent administration of disciplinary policies to the detriment of Black students.”

Joining 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 children, and detained until school officials presented her with a letter threatening prison trespassing expenses if she was found again on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday said the district disputes the allegations but had been advised by legal professionals to not get into specifics presently. “The Floyd County faculty system seems ahead to presenting the facts on this case in court,” White told The Related Press in a cellphone interview.

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

The lawsuit accuses school officials of creating “an atmosphere the place certain viewpoints together with white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted however speech of an ideologically totally different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

When a gaggle of scholars sought to protest the flexibility of their classmates to put on the Accomplice flag on campus, the principal threatened scholar 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 asserting the protest would be disciplined.

The lawsuit alleges that four Black plaintiffs who organized the protest have been suspended for 5 days, whereas nonblack pupil organizers weren't disciplined. Attorneys additionally allege the preemptive shutdown of the protest and calls for that students not submit on social media violated college students’ First Amendment rights. A fifth scholar who was not suspended has additionally sued.

The swimsuit says gown code rules allowing Confederate flag apparel however not Black Lives Matter attire are illegal viewpoint discrimination by a government agency, which also violates the First Amendment. It says the district also has violated the students’ and fogeys’ right to equal protection under the 14th Modification, in addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Amongst other remedies, the plaintiffs demand that the varsity district be blocked from additional punishing the scholars because of their speech, take away prior punishments from school records and pay cash damages.

Among the many attorneys bringing the suit is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer looking for the Democratic nomination for lawyer normal in Massachusetts.

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