Coosa High School (FOX 5)
ROME, Georgia. – A civil rights lawsuit filed by five black Coosa High School students against the Floyd County School District may proceed.
The lawsuit alleges that the students’ First Amendment rights were violated after they wore “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts in protest of a series of racist incidents on campus in 2021, including a Confederate battle flag displayed by students. Students believe they were targeted for expressing their opinions, while no action was taken against the students waving what many see as a symbol of racism.
Civil rights attorney Harry M. Daniels filed the lawsuit along with Artur Davis and Shannon Liss-Riordan in May 2022. It describes an “egregious pattern of deliberate disregard of plaintiffs’ complaints about repeated incidents of racial intimidation and bigotry.”
This image from video provided to FOX 5 shows students on the Coosa High School campus raising a Confederate battle flag in 2021. (Included in delivery)
According to the lawsuit, black students at Coosa High School were subjected to numerous acts of overt racism and racial intimidation. One incident described in the lawsuit involved a white student wearing a belt with the Confederate flag and allegedly calling black students “slaves.” In another incident, a white student allegedly threatened black students, saying, “We used to whip you with that all the time,” while holding a whip. The lawsuit also describes an incident in which white students reenacted the murder of George Floyd in a school hallway, as well as overtly racist comments by white teachers.
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Nearly 60% of Coosa High School’s student body is white, while about 10% is black.
“Whether in the classroom or the boardroom, racists and bullies have no place in our schools,” Daniels said. “The administration of Coosa High School and the Floyd County School District would do well to learn this lesson. After all, it is 2024, not 1964.”
Daniels added, “From looking the other way to actively defending racists while punishing black students, the leaders of Coosa High School and the Floyd County School District have made it clear where they stand. We stand with these students as they fight for their right to live and go to school without fear of intimidation.”
U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May signed the ruling Wednesday that will move the case forward.
