Legal Commentary

$150,000 Settlement for Black Public School Students Harassed by Other Black Students for ?Acting White?

By Eugene Volokh

That?s the report from South Carolina Lawyers Weekly:

The two students each received $50,000, and two family members who filed the suits on their behalf received $25,000 apiece ....

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....

Both students were African-American, and so was most of the elementary school?s student body, according to [the students? lawyer, Lawrence C.] Kobrovsky....

[The younger student] claimed she suffered emotional trauma because she was subjected to racial and sexual slurs at ... elementary school ... 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.

?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....

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).