S.W., a 14-year old African-American student, and his mother have filed suit alleging that Grand Rapids Public School administrators failed to stop a Caucasian student from openly calling S.W. a "n****r" in class nearly every day for more than three months. The complaint alleges that for weeks S.W. and his mother pleaded with various district administrators to step in and stop the slurs,but they failed to do so. When S.W. opposed the conduct and tried to make the student stop, he was disciplined. As a result, S.W. remains in a classroom in which another student continues to call him a racial slur without any apparent restraint.
S.W. and his mother have now filed suit under Title VI and Michigan's Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act for a racially hostile school environment,discriminatory disciplinary practices, and retaliation.
In bringing this suit, S.W.’s attorney, Nakisha Chaney of NachtLaw P.C., emphasized that no child should have to attend a class in which he or she is degraded. “We cannot expect our children to succeed in learning or in life if we allow them to be demeaned in the very spaces in which they should be nurtured. No African-American child should endure the indignity of being called a 'n****r' by a classmate, much less on a daily basis. We believe that GRPS administrators knew that this was occurring, that they had an opportunity to correct it, and that they failed to do so. We hope that S.W. can obtain relief through this suit.”
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division by Chaney and David Nacht, notes that S.W.’s teacher brought the problem to the school’s attention as well. It also claims that GRPS was aware of the offending student using the racial slur about students other than S.W.
It alleges, “As a result of GRPS’s failure to remedy a hostile racial environment and prevent subsequent retaliation, S.W. suffered significant harm including daily degradation, embarrassment, anger, frustration, loss of classroom and instruction time, and unjust discipline.”
It also reflects that S.W.’s mother “has suffered, among other things, humiliation, frustration and anger as a result of GRPS’s indifference and retaliation and her inability to protect her son from daily racial indignity.
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