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

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

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

Now, in their lawsuit filed Tuesday in opposition to the Floyd County faculty district and its board members, they allege an extensive sample of racism, together with white college students reenacting the homicide of George Floyd and posting it on social media, and a student who carried what gave the impression to be a whip and advised a Black student “we used to whip you.”

Additionally they allege unfair punishment: Students are banned from carrying Black Lives Matter shirts, however Confederate flag attire is appropriate below the varsity’s gown code, the lawsuit says.

The swimsuit faults administrators for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity towards black students perpetrated by white college students and academics; as well as the school’s viewpoint discrimination in its dress code and the inconsistent administration of disciplinary policies to the detriment of Black 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 till faculty officials presented her with a letter threatening criminal trespassing charges if she was discovered again on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday stated the district disputes the allegations but had been suggested by attorneys to not get into specifics at the moment. “The Floyd County faculty system seems ahead to presenting the info on this case in court,” White advised The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Coosa Excessive close to Rome is in the coronary heart of northwest Georgia’s conservative 14th Congressional District, which sent 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 another race.

The lawsuit accuses faculty officers of making “an atmosphere where sure viewpoints together with 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 flexibility of their classmates to wear the Confederate flag on campus, the principal threatened scholar Deserae Turner that she could be jailed for “instigating a riot,” the lawsuit says. The principal also announced over the intercom that any student protesting and even possessing a flyer asserting the protest can be disciplined.

The lawsuit alleges that four Black plaintiffs who organized the protest were suspended for 5 days, whereas nonblack scholar organizers were not disciplined. Lawyers also allege the preemptive shutdown of the protest and demands that college students not submit on social media violated students’ First Amendment rights. A fifth pupil who was not suspended has also sued.

The go well with says dress code rules allowing Accomplice flag apparel but not Black Lives Matter attire are illegal viewpoint discrimination by a authorities company, which also violates the First Modification. It says the district also has violated the students’ and parents’ right to equal safety beneath 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 further punishing the scholars due to their speech, take away prior punishments from school data and pay money damages.

Among the lawyers bringing the go well with is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer looking for the Democratic nomination for attorney normal in Massachusetts.

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