A lawsuit has been filed against a Georgia superintendent, alleging he used racial slurs and threatened to kill black workers at a construction site.
Filed on August 1, 2018, in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, the lawsuit claims recordings feature Buford City Schools Superintendent Geye Hamby screaming at black temporary workers and repeatedly using racial epithets against them, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“He said he worked for the temp service, and he didn’t have to do what the [expletive] we tell him to do,” Hamby reportedly said, according to the lawsuit. The exact profanity used by Hamby has been redacted in transcripts of the recording. “[Expletive] that n****r. I’ll kill these [expletives] – shoot that [expletive] if they let me. Alright. Well, check out what’s going on with all the n****rs down here. Bye.”
In another recording, a man who is alleged to be Gamby suggests "young kids" would be better workers than the "deadbeat n****rs" working the site.
“Don’t send us a deadbeat n****r from a temp service,” the man complained. “Well, look, we’ve got, we’ve got young kids right here that put in the work. They can do more than the [expletive] deadbeat n****rs.”
The tapes are a part of a suit being brought by Mary Ingram, a black woman who worked for the school system for more than 18 years as a paraprofessional.
Ingram made history in the district when, in 1970, she became one of the first black students to graduate from the newly integrated school system.
It is this history that she claims put her on Gamby's radar and that indirectly led to her termination with the district.
When schools in the area were "separate but equal," the black public schools had gold as their school color; white schools had green and white. Promises were made to add gold to the district's green and white emblem to show black students were welcome in the district's public school, but the color was never added.
Ingram brought this up in school board and city council meetings, fearing “we were about to lose our heritage.” She said she tried to speak to Gamby about it and was rebuffed.
According to Ingram, she ran into Gamby in a school hallway and asked him why he wouldn't discuss the issue with her. She claimed he responded, "No, I didn’t speak to you, and I don’t have to and probably would never speak to you again.”
Ingram also claimed Gamby told her she had to start running everything she planned to say before the school board and city council by him before she said it. She said she refused, and then her troubles began.
Although any demerits didn't mar the first 16 years of her service, district files show she began receiving some write-ups. One criticized her for encouraging cheerfulness with students as they exited their school bus.
Finally, she was fired in June 2017 for "being disrespectful, argumentative and unfriendly” and told she was not a "good fit" for the school habitat. She believes she was fired due to her race and because she wanted a symbolic representation of the district's students of color in its official emblem.
The tapes, Ingram said, show Gamby is not fit to be "the man who is over our children.”
Walt Britt, a lawyer for the Buford City School Board, has chosen a presidential defense of the recording.
“We have been unable to determine [the recording's] veracity and authenticity and whether the recording was altered and was at the consent of at least one party or the product of illegal surveillance," Britt said. "Our investigation continues into this matter, but we are hamstrung in that the plaintiff has failed or refused to produce the original recording for testing or provide any information concerning the background or foundation of the recording.”
Ingram's lawyers claimed they have made the tape available to the school's counsel.
Hamby said Ingram's just upset she lost her job.
“This is a personnel and legal matter pertaining to a disgruntled employee,” Hamby told the AJC. “District council [sic] has advised not to comment.”
According to the Gwinnett Daily Post, Hamby, whose Buford City School contract runs through June 30, 2020, has been placed on administrative leave.
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