Racism Claimed at Alabama School
| More news stories on Bizarre Racism Charges |
|---|
AP, May 25, 2008
A south Alabama town that was the inspiration for the setting in Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird” is finding itself as the backdrop for a real-life legal case involving allegations of racism at school.
The parents of several black junior high school students have filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming their children are subject to racial slurs and punished more harshly than white students at Monroeville Junior High School.
The lawsuit says black students at the county’s only public junior high have been called slurs such as the “N-word,” “filthy trash” and “black monkey.” Their parents also say classes are segregated, with most black students being kept out of advanced placement and honors courses.
The action, originally filed in August, was revived this week by the American Civil Liberties Union in U.S. Southern District Court on behalf of nine students. It names the Monroe County Board of Education, Monroeville Junior High principal Lana Wilson, county superintendent Dennis Mixon, and the five-member school board.
{snip}
The parents say black students who got into fights with white students were given off-campus suspensions for longer periods of time while white students were given shorter in-school suspensions. They also said black students were disciplined for minor dress code violations like untucked shirts and for violations that weren’t even in the code, such as loose or missing buttons.
The junior high school at the center of the lawsuit has 463 students from grades 6-8 and its population is 78 percent black and 22 percent white.
Allegations of racism
The lawsuit also describes an incident in which a student was being teased by white classmates who called her a “black monkey.” The student told the white teacher, who responded by saying “sit back down because you do look like a black monkey,” the suit claims.
Students whose parents complained about the treatment were targeted for harsher punishment as a result, said Catherine Kim, an attorney for the ACLU’s Racial Justice Project.
{snip}
Monroe County School system attorney Mark Boardman said the lawsuit’s allegations were investigated and found to be “baseless.” A review of discipline records showed no disciplinary disparity between races, he said, and the district is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed.
“Three other lawyers have been involved in this case and decided—after learning the facts—not to take it,” Boardman said.
Yates said her son’s self-esteem has declined since he enrolled there as a sixth grader. {snip}
{snip}
(Posted on May 27, 2008)
Comments
Is business so slow at the ACLU that they have to invent cases now?
Posted by kitty at 7:35 PM on May 27
What can you do in a case like this, enroll advanced placement classes based upon afirmative action and wonder why the blacks fail the AP test? If the black kids could compete with the White or Asian kids they would be in the AP classes. As far as punishment it is well documented that black kids are more likely to misbehave.
Posted by Spartan24 at 7:37 PM on May 27
If the teacher in fact made such a comment, he or she should be fired. Such behavior is totally unacceptable.
Posted by Maureen at 9:17 PM on May 27
When I was one of only two Black students in a Connecticut high school in the early 1960s, I remember how nasty and cruel some of the White teachers could be. Some of the teachers were nice and kind, but some were downright mean in their verbal abuse.
It took me more than a decade to overcome some of the more psychologicaly unpleasant encounters I endured at the hands of racist teachers, but through therapy and intense counseling I was able to do so.
It is unfathomable that in 2008 we are still seeing teachers behave toward kids in such a inhumane manner.
Posted by Brenda at 9:26 PM on May 27
I hated just walking in the halls at my middle and high schools. But with the whites being less than a quarter of the school’s population, there’s no telling what they have to put up with.
Posted by at 9:28 PM on May 27
“…with most black students being kept out of advanced placement and honors courses.”
“Kept out of”??? Can they point to any of those black students who actually PERFORMS at an advanced level and DESERVES to be in the honor courses? What next? Cries of “racism” because too few blacks earn Nobel prizes for physics?
Posted by jewamongyou at 9:33 PM on May 27
i’d bet all the money in my pocket that these so-called racial slurs are coming from the blacks themselves, much like all these nooses that were supposedly left by horrible white racists. we see how that turned out. but the white people in this case will cave of course. how sad
Posted by tnecvolfan2001 at 9:46 PM on May 27
“The lawsuit says black students at the county’s only public junior high have been called slurs such as the “N-word,” “filthy trash” and “black monkey.” “
Wow, and insults black student regularly hurl at Asians in high schools? Is that “alleged racism” too?
“Their parents also say classes are segregated, with most black students being kept out of advanced placement and honors courses”
So the very fact that test scores exist must be prima facia evidence of segregation against black students?
Posted by at 10:07 PM on May 27
“Their parents also say classes are segregated, with most black students being kept out of advanced placement and honors courses.”
If anyone is “keeping” blacks out of AP classes, it’s blacks.
I went to a high school that was about half black. This school offered far more AP classes than the others in the region… About forty students were taking one or more AP classes. Guess how many blacks there were in those forty or so students? One.
I knew two others that had the ability to be there. One of them was shot and killed by another black. The other got expelled after making a foolhardy attempt at “breaking into the school’s computer network” to change a failing grade (which wouldn’t have worked anyway), and is now working at a fast food joint.
Posted by at 10:51 PM on May 27
Brenda, honey, all I can say is, “stay in America!” You would never survive in Africa.
It’s a pretty nasty place where the Luo hate the Kikuyu who hate the Kalenjin.
And where the Fulani/Hausa hate the Igbo and where the Ndebeles hate the Shona.
The only difference is that when one African group slaughters another in Africa, the slaughtered African group returns the favor.
In America, white teachers don’t return the favor to black students like the Hutu teachers did by killing the Tutsi students. White folks just get a little b!tchy at times we don’t get murderous in spite of the huge number of white folks that black folks kill every year.
Particularly when black students follow their natural instincts and start jumping around and yelling in class. Last month Obama’s preacher, Rev. Wright, explained how hard it is for black folks to sit still and learn the way white folks do and that why they need special classes and teachers.
He preached it right to the NAACP who didn’t say a word, so I know it’s true.
Posted by Big Bill at 10:54 PM on May 27
I can sympathize with Brenda. She is reciting an experience that she endured as a teenager in the 1960s.
It probably was a rough isolating experience.
I think sometimes we Whites tend to forget past hisory and some of the hostile situations that some Blacks had to go through.
Posted by Don at 11:45 PM on May 27
“When I was one of only two Black students in a Connecticut high school in the early 1960s, I remember how nasty and cruel some of the White teachers could be. Some of the teachers were nice and kind, but some were downright mean in their verbal abuse.
It took me more than a decade to overcome some of the more psychologicaly unpleasant encounters I endured at the hands of racist teachers, but through therapy and intense counseling I was able to do so.
It is unfathomable that in 2008 we are still seeing teachers behave toward kids in such a inhumane manner.
Posted by Brenda at 9:26 PM on May 27 “
Brenda, if you think that you had it bad, think how it would be if in 2008 you were only one of two white students in an all black school where you would have to endure being beat up every day, called names that cannot be printed here, and being called a racist by the black teachers for complaining.
Schools should have stayed segregated. Everyone was happier.
Posted by SandyCSA at 11:49 PM on May 27
How horrible that blacks are called names in these schools. It’s SO MUCH worse then White kids go through at black schools!!!!
Posted by Tom S at 12:17 AM on May 28
Apparently three previous lawyers, dollar signs dancing in their heads, took the case but bailed out because the “evidence” was so lame.
But that didn’t stop the ACLU’s Racial Justice Project from joining the fray.
After all, the black students get lower grades than the white ones so that proves racism!
Posted by Madison Grant at 12:19 AM on May 28
Absurd. I am not about to believe that at a school that is only 22% White, Blacks have to endure racial abuse from them.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 2:41 AM on May 28
I find it very hard to believe that white teachers would say these things today knowing that they would very likely get fired or sued. I’ll be willing to bet that these black kids are making it up. If by chance they aren’t, of course it would be very wrong for a teacher to say these things and it shouldn’t be allowed. I’ll also bet these black kids are instigating things against the white kids. However, I’ve been around a lot of blacks and know that many have a penchant for lying about racism and hassling/attacking whites. Whites couldn’t even go to a majority black school, it wouldn’t be safe but nobody says that’s racism.
Posted by KC at 7:25 AM on May 28
Brenda,
So you took verbal abuse from teachers. I am sorry that happened to you. It shouldn’t have. But I am a white person who went to a school with many blacks. Here are some of things I and other white students endured:
Lone whites walking down the halls were subject to being jumped and beaten by mobs of blacks.
White girls were not allowed to use the restrooms. That’s right…black girls stood guard and would not allow any white girl into the restrooms. I soon learned to refrain from drinking anything all day, I got very good at “holding it,” and I wore hospital-sized pads when “that time of the month” came around. Still, I had stomach problems because it’s not healthy to hold it all day long. It was either that or be beaten, however.
If a black demanded something of a white…your hairbrush, your lunch money, whatever…you had darned well better fork it over. I kept extra hairbrushes in my purse so I’d always have some to give them when they demanded it.
Blacks loved to go up to whites in the cafeteria, knock their food trays out of their hands, then demand they clean up the mess. Any white student who refused would soon have a terrified white teacher rushing up to beg them, saying, “For heaven’s sake, do what they say! Clean it up or they’ll riot!”
Speaking of riots, we had plenty. The blacks would riot, during which time our principal would lock himself in his office and cower. Blacks were also extremely fond of setting off the fire alarms and forcing everyone to evacuate outside. By the way, this was in Chicago, including in the dead of winter.
Black girls put the word out that there was to be an all-black cheerleading squad, and any white girl who tried out for cheerleading would be beaten. You better believe there was an all-black squad.
Blacks demanded that the school motto be “We’ve Got Soul!” They threated to riot if they didn’t get it. They got it, of course…just like they got everything else they wanted. The fact that “We’ve Got Soul!” was a motto that might not be preferred by ALL groups at the school mattered to blacks not one bit. Whites repeatedly got the message…we didn’t matter. Our needs, desires, preferences, just didn’t matter. Our duty was to give in to blacks over and over, so that they wouldn’t riot.
All of the good teachers at the school ended up quitting in disgust. Actually *learning* anything was a rare luxury. My school days consisted of trying to get through the day without being beaten. As a result, I was robbed of a good high school education.
I sure wish, Brenda, that the only thing I’d had to endure in high school was some mean remarks from some teachers. I would be willing to bet anything that the average white person in America has suffered more at the hands of blacks than vice-versa. Blacks always talk about “mean remarks” or “dirty looks” from whites, or, “That white waitress gave me a bad table in the restaurant! Racist!!” But what do whites suffer at the hands of blacks? Everything from losing their jobs to affirmative action hires to beatings, rapes, robberies. There is simply no comparison! And what’s more, whites do not get the sympathy that blacks get.
Be glad you’re black, Brenda, and don’t complain!
Posted by at 11:37 AM on May 28
The only ‘cure’ for racism is segregation.
Posted by Sensitivity Trainer at 1:55 PM on May 28
If three lawyers turned the case down, you can bet that the fourth one who took the case was pretty stupid.
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 1:55 PM on May 28
Don says:
“I think sometimes we Whites tend to forget past hisory and some of the hostile situations that some Blacks had to go through.”
Don, when are EVER allowed a reprise from the constant anti-white brainwashing?
I mean, besides this small isle occupied by AmRen on the World Wide Web.
Posted by IsleofWesternMan at 4:08 PM on May 28
There probably was 1 racial incident that day against this black girl, and 99 racial incidents against white students that day. Reality never jibes with the presentation of it in the paper. Or in stories like ‘to kill a mockingbird’. For some reason, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if this girls is lying. Not the tiniest bit.
Posted by at 4:57 PM on May 28
Big Bill, your response to Brenda was unintelligent and almost made me laugh. I don’t think you can really compare African tribes to western civilisation.
“In America, white teachers don’t return the favor to black students like the Hutu teachers did by killing the Tutsi students. White folks just get a little b!tchy at times we don’t get murderous in spite of the huge number of white folks that black folks kill every year.” - This is totally ridiculous (and a bit off topic), Hutu’s were the majority in Rwanda who commited genocide against the Tutsi minority. The Tutsi’s were in power and considerably more wealthy than the less fortunate Hutu’s this is extremely different compared to modern America.
Please don’t try to make out that us white folk are all nice and cuddly as we’re generous enough not to be “murderous”, I’d like to bet that most white murder victims weren’t victims of racsim but i wouldn’t be surprised that alot of black victims were killed because of their colour.
And trust me after just finishing compulsary education in a very culturally diverse school i can tell you that black’s were no more disruptive than whites. Poor education is nothing to do with race. It is to do with the way you’re raised, where you live and how much money you have.
Posted by White, not proud... at 5:25 PM on May 28
I used to be a major apologist and defender of Blacks. No More. I found out misery and chaos are their by-products by dint of most Blacks’ disruptive, uncivilized behavior. Someday when the blinders are off, most everyone else will draw that conclusion after having gone to school with the untalented 90% of the Black race.
Posted by White is Beautiful Robert at 7:56 PM on May 28
Sandy CSA:Right on!Being the only white student in an all black school is 100 times worse than being the only black student in an all white school.
Posted by Peejay in Frisco at 8:49 PM on May 28
The junior high school at the center of the lawsuit has 463 students from grades 6-8 and its population is 78 percent black and 22 percent white.
he lawsuit says black students at the county’s only public junior high have been called slurs such as the “N-word,” “filthy trash” and “black monkey.”
Hmmm, Blacks in this school out number Whites 3.5 to 1 and we are to believe that: 1) That the racial slurs are only committed by Whites against Blacks. 2) That the Black students would routinely tolerate such slurs without physical violence.
Not surprised that 3 trial lawyers already took a pass on this lawsuit.
Posted by Stillwarm at 2:51 AM on May 29
To White, not proud… who posted at 5:25 PM on May 28
I’d like to bet that most white murder victims weren’t victims of racsim but i wouldn’t be surprised that alot of black victims were killed because of their colour.
Per the latest FBI statistics Blacks committed more hate crimes per capita than Whites. And how many more Blacks killed Whites than the reverse?
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/ovracetab.htm
In 2005: there were 934 Black on White and 337 White on Black murders, realize that the USDOJ generally counts Latinos as White.
And trust me after just finishing compulsary education in a very culturally diverse school i can tell you that black’s were no more disruptive than whites.
That conflicts with my experiences, albeit there are many decent Blacks but their percentages per capita are decidedly lower than decent Whites per capita.
Poor education is nothing to do with race. It is to do with the way you’re raised, where you live and how much money you have.
Well hmmm…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1995-SAT-Income2.png
Whites who came from families that made less than $10,000 did better on the SAT test than Blacks who came from families who made more than $70,000. (Pretty similar figures for Asians vs. Blacks…)
So what was that again you were saying about income..?
Posted by Stillwarm at 3:13 AM on May 29
11:37am:
Your story sounds suspect given the fact that Chicago public schools are the most segregated in the nation.
There are hardly any interracial high schools in the entire city.
Posted by Frank at 3:49 AM on May 30
To Frank who posted at 3:49 AM on May 30
11:37am: Your story sounds suspect given the fact that Chicago public schools are the most segregated in the nation. There are hardly any interracial high schools in the entire city.
That is the case now but likely the poster is referring to some time in the recent past, such as the 60s through the early 80s. It was incidents like the ones described by the writer that lead to White flight to the suburban or private schools in many large urban across the US when court orders abolished de facto segregation in Northern cities.
Posted by at 2:45 AM on May 31
“Please don’t try to make out that us white folk are all nice and cuddly as we’re generous enough not to be “murderous”, I’d like to bet that most white murder victims weren’t victims of racsim but i wouldn’t be surprised that alot of black victims were killed because of their colour.”
Of course there are some whites who are murderous, but when whites commit murder, they almost always kill other whites. Most crime is commited by members of the same race. However, when crime and murder is interracial, it is almost exclusively black on white while the reverse is uncommon. On the occasion that a white kills a black, it is usally during a drug transaction or such, not a “hate crime.”
“And trust me after just finishing compulsary education in a very culturally diverse school i can tell you that black’s were no more disruptive than whites. Poor education is nothing to do with race. It is to do with the way you’re raised, where you live and how much money you have. “
Yes I know your type, you probably had a few blacks, mexicans and asians but most of your school was white and those smaller numbers of blacks, mexicans and asians were middle or upper class. Yes, there are middle and upper class blacks who are no problem however I’ll be willing to bet you didn’t go to school with large numbers of these lower class type blacks who are an absolute nightmare. Try going to school in South Central Los Angeles? You’d wake up real fast. Poor education has to do with one’s lack of intellect, self-discipline, morals and drive, something large number of lower class blacks totally lack. It has nothing to do with money, plenty of people who grew up with less money when on to succeed including my own mom. I know, I’ve been to a school with large numbers of blacks and it was a nightmare and all of these blacks had nice clothes(nicer then the whites0 and lots of bling.
Posted by at 7:27 PM on May 31