Georgia college students sue over blocked protest against rebel flag

ATLANTA (AP) — A number of Black college students who were suspended for attempting to protest Accomplice flag shows at their college in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to their faculty district and its board members, accusing them of allowing an intensive sample of racism including “overt bigotry and animosity by some white college students and teachers in opposition to African American students.”

The scholars, joined by their moms as plaintiffs, already made news when their protest at Coosa Excessive 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 intensive pattern of racism, together with white students reenacting the homicide of George Floyd and posting it on social media, and a student who carried what seemed to be a whip and instructed a Black student “we used to whip you.”

They also allege unfair punishment: Students are banned from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, however Confederate flag attire is acceptable below the varsity’s costume code, the lawsuit says.

The swimsuit faults directors for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward black students perpetrated by white college students and academics; 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.”

Joining the scholars as plaintiffs are their moms, Lekisha Turner and Jessica Murray. Murray claims she was pulled over by a police officer after choosing up the suspended kids, and detained till college officials presented her with a letter threatening legal trespassing charges if she was found again on college grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday stated the district disputes the allegations but had been suggested by legal professionals to not get into specifics presently. “The Floyd County school system seems ahead to presenting the details on this example in court docket,” White advised The Related Press in a telephone interview.

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

The lawsuit accuses faculty officials of creating “an environment where 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 ability of their classmates to wear the Accomplice flag on campus, the principal threatened scholar Deserae Turner that she could possibly be jailed for “instigating a riot,” the lawsuit says. The principal also introduced over the intercom that any student protesting or even possessing a flyer saying the protest could be disciplined.

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

The suit says gown code guidelines allowing Confederate flag apparel but not Black Lives Matter attire are unlawful viewpoint discrimination by a authorities agency, which also violates the First Modification. It says the district also has violated the scholars’ and parents’ right to equal protection below the 14th Modification, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Among different treatments, the plaintiffs demand that the school district be blocked from additional punishing the scholars because of their speech, remove prior punishments from faculty information and pay cash damages.

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

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