Georgia college students sue over blocked protest towards insurgent flag

ATLANTA (AP) — A number of Black college students who have been suspended for attempting to protest Confederate flag shows at their college in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to their school 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 teachers against African American students.”

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

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

Additionally they allege unfair punishment: Students are banned from sporting Black Lives Matter shirts, however Accomplice flag apparel is acceptable underneath the college’s dress code, the lawsuit says.

The swimsuit faults administrators for “deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity towards black students perpetrated by white students and academics; in addition to the varsity’s viewpoint discrimination in its gown code and the inconsistent administration of disciplinary policies to the detriment of Black students.”

Joining the students as plaintiffs are their mothers, 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 officials presented her with a letter threatening prison trespassing expenses if she was discovered again on school grounds.

Superintendent Glenn White on Tuesday mentioned the district disputes the allegations but had been suggested by lawyers to not get into specifics at the moment. “The Floyd County school system appears ahead to presenting the facts on this case in courtroom,” White instructed The Related Press in a phone interview.

Coosa Excessive near Rome is in the 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 show. About 58% are white, while 26% are Hispanic and the the remainder are multiracial or another race.

The lawsuit accuses school officials of making “an environment the place sure viewpoints including white nationalism and white supremacy are permitted but speech of an ideologically different viewpoint is expressly prohibited.”

When a gaggle of students sought to protest the flexibility 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 or even possessing a flyer asserting the protest can be disciplined.

The lawsuit alleges that four Black plaintiffs who organized the protest were suspended for five days, while nonblack pupil organizers were not disciplined. Legal professionals additionally allege the preemptive shutdown of the protest and demands that students not post on social media violated students’ First Amendment rights. A fifth student who was not suspended has additionally sued.

The go well with says gown code guidelines allowing Accomplice flag apparel but not Black Lives Matter attire are unlawful viewpoint discrimination by a authorities company, which additionally violates the First Amendment. 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.

Amongst other treatments, the plaintiffs demand that the varsity district be blocked from additional punishing the students because of their speech, remove prior punishments from faculty data and pay cash damages.

Among the legal professionals bringing the go well with is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer searching for the Democratic nomination for lawyer general in Massachusetts.

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