Students at Park Hill South High School in Liberty, Missouri, have posted a “Start Slavery Again’ petition online, according to Action News 5.
Two 14-year-old Black students (one is Black and Brazilian) were joking with each other on the school bus about needing a job, slavery and making fun of racial stereotypes, which led to the “Start Slavery Again” petition.
A lawsuit claims that the school painted the other teens affiliated with the petition as antebellum-loving students for commenting on the petition. The lawsuit claims that the four disciplined students had their First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights violated.
Arthur Benson II represents the four students who were disciplined for the slavery petition. Two are white, one is Asian and white, and one is Black and Brazilian. Benson accused the parents and school of overreacting.
“Fourteen-year-olds sometimes unwisely shoot their mouths off,” said Benson. “Instantly regretting it but causing no harm, no disruption. But here it was adults who unwisely over-reacted, causing the disruptions and they are now trying to strip these boys of their entire ninth grades.”
The Black and Brazilian student was expelled. The other Black student was not disciplined and did not draft or sign the petition but saw it. The other three students were suspended. All four students are on the football team.
“The failure of the Defendants to be candid and truthful about the ‘petition’ fed the public ‘firestorm’ reaction to what the Defendants themselves called a ‘racist’ act and resulted in hundreds if not thousands of angry texts, emails, phone calls, and social media postings, many calling for some of the Defendants to resign or be discharged,” reads the lawsuit.
The school district’s director of access and inclusion, Terri Deayon, admitted that the school had no formal cultural sensitivity program.
“We don’t have anything formal, as far as like a standardized cultural sensitivity training or anything like that. Those are definitely things that I would love to see in the future,” said Deayon.
Deayon added that she was shocked by the slavery petition.
The Park Hill South High School district is 67 percent white.
