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

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

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

Now, of their lawsuit filed Tuesday towards the Floyd County faculty district and its board members, they allege an in depth sample of racism, including 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 scholar “we used to whip you.”

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

The suit faults administrators for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward black college students perpetrated by white college students and lecturers; in addition to the school’s viewpoint discrimination in its gown code and the inconsistent administration of disciplinary policies to the detriment of Black 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 youngsters, and detained till faculty officials introduced her with a letter threatening legal trespassing fees if she was discovered again on college grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday said the district disputes the allegations but had been suggested by lawyers to not get into specifics at the moment. “The Floyd County college system appears to be like forward to presenting the info on this example in court docket,” White instructed The Related Press in a telephone interview.

Coosa Excessive near 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 more than 800 students in grades 8-12 are Black, state enrollment figures present. 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 environment the place certain viewpoints including white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted however speech of an ideologically different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

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

The lawsuit alleges that four Black plaintiffs who organized the protest have been suspended for 5 days, while nonblack pupil organizers weren't disciplined. Lawyers 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 dress code rules permitting Accomplice flag apparel but not Black Lives Matter attire are unlawful viewpoint discrimination by a government agency, which additionally violates the First Modification. It says the district additionally has violated the students’ and parents’ right to equal protection underneath the 14th Amendment, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Among other remedies, the plaintiffs demand that the school district be blocked from additional punishing the students because of their speech, remove prior punishments from college data and pay money damages.

Among the lawyers bringing the suit is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer in search of the Democratic nomination for attorney basic in Massachusetts.

___

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