Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A New Twist On An Old Story

Via The Volokh Conspiracy we learn of this strange tale of racial discrimination. Oh, the beginning of the tale isn't so strange, as blacks' accusing each other of "acting white" for doing well in school is nothing new. What's new is a school losing a suit, or settling, for allowing such taunting, and progressively worse acts, to occur:

"What made this unique is that this, as far as I know, is the only Title VI case ever brought in federal court when it's an intra-racial hostile environment," Kobrovsky said.

Title VI prohibits allowing a racially hostile educational environment in schools and programs receiving federal financial assistance and provides for a private cause of action for violations.

The younger student initially asserted nine causes of action, but only the Title VI claim went to trial.

She claimed she suffered emotional trauma because she was subjected to racial and sexual slurs at an elementary school in Salters during September and November 2006. She had to receive home instruction for the rest of the school year, according to an amended complaint.

Despite complaints, school administrative staff and district officials allowed the abuse to "escalate to the point where [she] was physically threatened, assaulted and battered," the suit alleged.

The suit also claimed that a school official and a district official, either individually or together, "retaliated" against the student by causing the state Department of Social Services to launch an abuse-and-neglect investigation of the plaintiffs and their household. The complaint said DSS determined the investigation, which included a strip search of the student, was unfounded...

"You have a culture where to act like you want to do well in school is considered acting white. And that is part of why we're saying that it was racial, even though the students were all of the same race because they weren't acting how the others thought they should be acting as members of that race," Kobrovsky said.


Could whites make such coin by accusing each other of "acting white"?

OK, I ask that question only to be snarky. The far more important question is how adults could allow children to be bullied. There's far more at work than some B.S. racial identity thing here, there's a definite hatred.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I heard Charles Payne (an African-American financial guy on Fox Business) say that the same thing happened to him when he was a child. He said he grew up poor in the inner city and always wanted to be a businessman. His mother bought him a toy briefcase for Christmas or his birthday one year and he took it to school. I'm really fuzzy on how the story went.

Ellen K said...

Darren-I just came across another Liberalism = Racism story on another site. It has to do with Berkley High School seeking to remove upper level science classes because they are viewed as only benefiting white students. The implication is that minority students are incapable of AP level work in Science. The story is linked to the headline on my blog. Color me appalled.