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

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

The scholars, joined by their mothers as plaintiffs, already made news when their protest at Coosa High School was stifled last fall.

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

Additionally they allege unfair punishment: College students are banned from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, however Confederate flag attire is acceptable under the varsity’s gown code, the lawsuit says.

The suit faults administrators for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward black students perpetrated by white college students and teachers; in addition to the college’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 selecting up the suspended youngsters, and detained until school officers presented her with a letter threatening prison trespassing expenses if she was found again on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday said the district disputes the allegations but had been advised by lawyers to not get into specifics at this time. “The Floyd County college system looks forward to presenting the information on this situation in courtroom,” White instructed The Associated Press in a cellphone interview.

Coosa High 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 college 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 college officers of making “an environment the place sure viewpoints including white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted but speech of an ideologically completely different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

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

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

The swimsuit says dress code guidelines permitting Accomplice flag apparel however not Black Lives Matter attire are illegal viewpoint discrimination by a authorities agency, which also violates the First Amendment. It says the district also has violated the students’ and fogeys’ right to equal protection beneath the 14th Modification, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Among different remedies, the plaintiffs demand that the college district be blocked from further punishing the scholars because of their speech, take away prior punishments from faculty records and pay cash damages.

Among the attorneys bringing the suit is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney normal in Massachusetts.

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