Embattled School Hit With $150M Suit Alleging 'Dangerous' Racism

A Michigan high school that’s been embroiled in a series of race-related controversies—with students staging a walkout in protest of classmates’ racist behavior earlier this month—is now being sued by a student over alleged discrimination.

NBC Detroit reported that a high school student and her parents filed a $150 million federal class-action lawsuit against Bloomfield Hills High School, the school’s principal, Charlie Hollerith, and district Superintendent Patrick Watson on Thursday. The unnamed 15-year-old and her parents allege that the school’s administration did not properly handle racist incidents, causing emotional anxiety for students of color.

“As students of color, plaintiffs and their parents have experienced racist, unfair, hurtful and at times dangerous interactions at [Bloomfield Hills] at the hands of both white staff and students,” the lawsuit said. “Despite being notified of race discrimination and related injustices by students and parents, [the] defendant has failed and continues to fail to take steps reasonably calculated to stop the discrimination and ensure [the] plaintiff’s safety.”

The student detailed her own experiences of racism in the lawsuit, alleging she found a Black doll with big, red lips hanging from a noose over a school banister. After telling a white school counselor about the doll, the student claimed that the counselor simply brushed it off and said that it was a part of a science project. Students were later seen dragging the doll by the noose in a video that circulated on social media, the lawsuit says.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bloomfield-hills-high-school-hit-with-dollar150m-suit-alleging-dangerous-racism?ref=home