Could be Hearing More about This Racial Discrimination Case

Here is a case that has all the makings of blowing up nationally. I am not saying it will, but the ingredients are in place to make this case the next Jena 6. Allegations of over-discipline of African American children, racial slurs, etc.

WKRG.com Video

The case is out of Monroeville, Alabama ... the town that was used in Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" (which of course had a lot of racial elements to it). So, as this article shows, the national press is going to have an easy time writing juicy stories on this case. Now that the ACLU is involved, the legal arguments are likely to be ramped up considerably and other organizations, such as NAACP, may also get involved. If this begins to gain steam nationally, don't be surprised to see protest marches, which of course will feed more national coverage, and then the story will blow up.

I am not saying this will happen, I am just saying it has the ingredients necessary for it to happen. There is some question as to the soundness of the case and the unique election year may give pause to some African American leaders, so it may remain just a local story. But, don't be surprised if you are hearing a lot more about Monroeville in the near future.

Comments

[Robert Hamm]

If all the accusations are true in this footage then there is definitely a legal battle to come. It is unfortunate that in this day in time, when an African-American man can run for president that children are subjected to such severe cases of racism. I hope that no educational professional is capable of such indiscretions. However, racism is still prominent in America and schools are no exception.

[Jon Becker]

Do you know what the cause of action is? Equal Protection? Title VI? 1983? All of the above?

[Justin Bathon]

Here is a copy of the ACLU's 50 page complaint if you really want to know, but just from a quick glance it looks like they are going with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the 14th Amendment on their discrimination claims, forming a class action against the school, but probably claiming a disparate treatment kind of legal theory (I am not sure if disparate impact kind of theory would work here). They are also big on using "denying equal educational opportunity" type language, so maybe some kind of state constitutional claim there?

Interestingly, they are also going for a Free Speech violation claiming that the school has denied students and parents an opportunity to discuss the discrimination at the school. Interesting claim, but probably the kitchen sink theory at work there.

If you are interested, it is around page 45 or so of the link above when they start their legal claims.

They are also seeking injunctions against further racial harassment (perhaps a harassment claim as well? - that would be interesting to me actually if they approached it on school-student harassment).

I think they just want the court to slap the hand of the school a little. By laying out hundreds of claimed racially oriented behaviors on the part of the school (none of which may actually amount to a legal violation) the plaintiffs are just looking for a little retribution against the school. The case and public attention might be enough, actually. The fact that there is not a particularly strong legal claim may actually add to the public nature of this case as it seems the plaintiffs have put together a pretty strong package of evidence of racial discrimination, but just don't have a strong law backing them up like Title VII would back up employee suits. When you have pretty good evidence that something is wrong, but the government is not really willing to do anything about it ... that is when you can start getting protests in the streets.

We'll see. Like I said, I think the election is going to limit some of the outcry about this case.