Georgia students sue over blocked protest in opposition to insurgent flag

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

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

Now, in their lawsuit filed Tuesday towards the Floyd County college 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 student who carried what seemed to be a whip and informed a Black pupil “we used to whip you.”

Additionally they allege unfair punishment: College students are banned from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, however Confederate flag apparel is acceptable below the college’s dress code, the lawsuit says.

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

Becoming a member of the scholars 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 youngsters, and detained until faculty officials introduced her with a letter threatening prison trespassing charges if she was found once more on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday said the district disputes the allegations however had been advised by legal professionals to not get into specifics at this time. “The Floyd County college system appears to be like ahead to presenting the details on this situation in courtroom,” White instructed The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Coosa High near Rome is within the heart of northwest Georgia’s conservative 14th Congressional District, which despatched Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress. About 10% of the college’s greater 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 rest are multiracial or another race.

The lawsuit accuses school officials of creating “an environment where sure viewpoints including white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted however speech of an ideologically completely different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

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

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

The suit says dress code guidelines allowing Confederate flag apparel however not Black Lives Matter attire are illegal viewpoint discrimination by a government company, which additionally violates the First Modification. It says the district additionally has violated the students’ and fogeys’ proper to equal safety beneath the 14th Modification, in addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Among different cures, the plaintiffs demand that the college district be blocked from additional punishing the students due to their speech, take away prior punishments from school information and pay cash damages.

Among the legal professionals bringing the swimsuit is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney basic in Massachusetts.

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