Georgia college students sue over blocked protest in opposition to rebel flag

ATLANTA (AP) — Several Black students who have been suspended for trying to protest Accomplice flag shows at their college in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit towards their college district and its board members, accusing them of permitting an intensive pattern of racism together with “overt bigotry and animosity by some white students and lecturers in opposition to African American college students.”

The students, joined by their moms as plaintiffs, already made information when their protest at Coosa High College was stifled final fall.

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

In addition they allege unfair punishment: Students are banned from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, but Confederate flag attire is acceptable underneath the varsity’s costume code, the lawsuit says.

The go well with faults administrators for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward black students perpetrated by white students and teachers; as well as the college’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 students as plaintiffs are their moms, Lekisha Turner and Jessica Murray. Murray claims she was pulled over by a police officer after selecting up the suspended kids, and detained until faculty officers introduced her with a letter threatening felony trespassing expenses if she was discovered once more on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday mentioned the district disputes the allegations but had been advised by attorneys to not get into specifics at the moment. “The Floyd County college system seems ahead to presenting the details on this case in court docket,” White told The Related Press in a telephone interview.

Coosa Excessive near 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 school’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 rest are multiracial or some other race.

The lawsuit accuses college officials of making “an atmosphere where sure viewpoints including white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted however speech of an ideologically totally different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

When a bunch of students sought to protest the power of their classmates to wear the Accomplice flag on campus, the principal threatened student Deserae Turner that she could be jailed for “instigating a riot,” the lawsuit says. The principal also announced over the intercom that any pupil protesting or even possessing a flyer announcing the protest could be disciplined.

The lawsuit alleges that 4 Black plaintiffs who organized the protest were suspended for five days, while nonblack pupil organizers were not disciplined. Attorneys additionally allege the preemptive shutdown of the protest and demands that college students not post on social media violated college students’ First Amendment rights. A fifth student who was not suspended has additionally sued.

The go well with says gown code rules allowing Confederate flag attire but not Black Lives Matter attire are unlawful viewpoint discrimination by a authorities agency, which also violates the First Amendment. It says the district also has violated the students’ and oldsters’ right to equal protection beneath the 14th Modification, in addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Among other cures, the plaintiffs demand that the college district be blocked from further punishing the students due to their speech, remove prior punishments from college records and pay cash damages.

Among the many lawyers bringing the swimsuit is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer looking for the Democratic nomination for attorney general in Massachusetts.

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