A group of Black students in Georgia has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the Floyd County School district, saying they were suspended for wearing Black Lives Matter shirts at school while white students never faced consequences after waving Confederate flags and yelling racial slurs.
The five Black students, who attend Coosa High School in Rome, Georgia, said they were suspended shortly after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020, WSB-TV reports. While tensions around the country remained high at that time, a group of Coosa High School students allegedly stood on campus waving Confederate flags and yelling racial slurs. The Black students said they responded to the demonstration by wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts.
The school disciplined the Black students, but the white students didn’t face consequences, the lawsuit states. Now, the plaintiffs are asking for an injunction to get the district to put a stop to the alleged racism. They’re also aiming to have the students’ five-day suspensions expunged.
“The Plaintiffs, who are African-American, challenge Coosa High’s deliberate indifference to acts of racial animosity toward Black students perpetrated by White students and teachers; 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,” the lawsuit states, according to CNN.
Desirae Turner, a junior at Coosa High School, said the school system has been insensitive to their complaints.
“And they just was like they can’t do nothing about it,” Turner told WSB-TV.
Jessica Murray, a parent of a Coosa High School student, said racism has been a constant problem at the school.
“Just this year alone, I’ve had over 12 complaints,” Murray said.
According to the lawsuit, administrators have engaged in an “egregious pattern of deliberately ignoring Plaintiff’s complaints regarding repeated incidents of racial intimidation and bigotry” at the school.
The alleged incidents involve a student who wore a Confederate flag belt and addressed Black students as “slaves,” as well as a white student who said, “We used to whip you with this,” while holding a whip.
The school’s dress code allows students to wear any Confederate flag apparel but prohibits any “Black Lives Matter” apparel or related imagery, the lawsuit states.
“This is a lawsuit where you tell them to stop discriminating against these students. Let them go to school and get their education. Racism has no place in our country and definitely has no place in our school systems,” attorney Harry Daniels told CNN.
