Georgia college students sue over blocked protest against rebel flag

ATLANTA (AP) — A number of Black college students who have been suspended for attempting to protest Accomplice 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 extensive sample of racism including “overt bigotry and animosity by some white students and teachers in opposition to African American students.”

The scholars, joined by their mothers as plaintiffs, already made information when their protest at Coosa Excessive College was stifled last fall.

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

They also allege unfair punishment: College students are banned from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, however Confederate flag apparel is suitable beneath the varsity’s gown code, the lawsuit says.

The suit faults directors for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward black college students perpetrated by white students and teachers; 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 picking up the suspended kids, and detained until college officials offered her with a letter threatening felony trespassing charges if she was discovered once more on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday said the district disputes the allegations however had been suggested by attorneys to not get into specifics presently. “The Floyd County college system looks forward to presenting the details on this example in court,” White informed The Related Press in a cellphone 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 college’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 rest are multiracial or some other race.

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

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

The lawsuit alleges that 4 Black plaintiffs who organized the protest had been suspended for five days, while nonblack student organizers weren't disciplined. Legal professionals also allege the preemptive shutdown of the protest and calls for that students not put up on social media violated students’ First Modification rights. A fifth student who was not suspended has also sued.

The swimsuit says costume code guidelines permitting Accomplice flag attire however not Black Lives Matter apparel are illegal viewpoint discrimination by a authorities company, which additionally violates the First Modification. It says the district additionally has violated the scholars’ and parents’ right to equal safety below the 14th Amendment, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Amongst 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 college information and pay cash damages.

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

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