Several Black high school students in Georgia are suing their school district after being suspended for attempting to protest Confederate flag displays on school grounds.
Students at Coosa High School filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the Floyd County school district and its board members of “overt bigotry and animosity by some white students and teachers against African American students,” The Associated Press reports.
According to the lawsuit, when a group of students attempted to protest their classmates’ ability to wear the Confederate flag on campus last fall, the principal threatened student Deserae Turner with jail time for “instigating a riot.” The principal also announced that any student protesting or even possessing a flyer announcing the protest would be disciplined. The Black students who organized the protest were suspended for five days, but non-black student organizers did not face any discipline.
The lawsuit also alleges an extensive pattern of racism. Some of the incidents described included ones where white students reenacted the murder of George Floyd and posted it on social media. And, a time when a white student brought a whip to school and allegedly told a Black student, “we used to whip you.”
The students, who are joined in the suit by their mothers, also claim unfair punishment at the school, where Black students are not permitted to wear “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts, but white students are allowed to wear Confederate flag apparel.
The School Superintendent, Glenn White said that the district disputes the allegations and “looks forward to presenting the facts on this situation in court,” according to The Associated Press.
The students and parents who filed the lawsuit want the school district to be barred from punishing the students further for their speech, have prior punishments removed from school records and have monetary damages paid.