A school district in Georgia, USA, is being sued by students for allegedly being banned from wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts at school events, while their white peers regularly wear jerseys showing Confederate flags.
The lawsuit was filed last week in federal court against Effingham County school administrators who allegedly blocked students from wearing Black Lives Matter jerseys.
In support of their decision, the defendants allegedly cited a district-wide dress policy that prohibits attire that “may contribute to the disturbance,” the motion says, which states that enforcement of the county’s dress code is unjust and part of a larger pattern of discrimination and “willful indifference to acts of racial animosity” that violate the civil rights of black students.
According to the lawsuit, one of the plaintiffs was refused entry to a high school football game for wearing a Black Lives Matter jersey, while white students in the school district regularly wear shirts printed with Confederate flags.
Effingham County School Superintendent Yancy Ford said in a statement that the district has not yet been notified of the lawsuit. He said any response to these allegations would be made in court.
The lawsuit counts as plaintiffs three unnamed black teenagers attending Effingham County High School. The complaint was filed by the mother of one of the teenagers, who also represents them as a lawyer.
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