"He has been stigmatized as a racist, a bigot, an unrepentant sinner and is being forced to withdraw from the school.”

On July 30, 2021 Sam Stanton asked,

Did critical race theory lead to ouster of Latino student at Catholic school in California?

The parents of a Jesuit High School student have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the suburban Sacramento institution, alleging that their son’s objections to teaching critical race theory led to him being labeled a “bigot” and his forced withdrawal from school.

The lawsuit, filed late Thursday in federal court in Sacramento, identifies the student only as “A.P.,” a 17-year-old Mexican-American student with attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome and dyslexia who has been studying at Jesuit through an accommodation plan.

The suit names as defendants the Roman Catholic school in Carmichael, President John P. McGarry and Principal Michael Wood, who were unavailable for comment Friday.

The suit says the dispute began after the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer.

A month after Floyd’s murder, a June 23 letter signed by five students was distributed at the school advocating for “fundamental changes in various aspects of the school’s curriculum, policies and culture,” including the teaching of critical race theory, the suit says.

“Teaching CRT has been banned outright in a number of states, and anti-CRT legislation is pending in other state across the country,” the suit says, labeling the decades-old teaching subject “highly controversial.”

“The letter was read in classes, distributed to the student body, and students were asked to add their signatures to the letter in a show of support,” the lawsuit says. “It was not distributed to parents.

“Students were asked in class what they thought of the June 23 Letter, and A.P. shot off saying he thought it was ‘retarded.’ The teacher quickly reminded A.P. that ‘we are careful with our words.’ Nothing else was said, and no discipline was imposed.”

The suit concedes that the student’s use of the term was “inappropriate,” but says it was a “slang to express criticism of the letter,” not an attack on someone with “intellectual disability."

The letter sparked debate among parents, donors and alumni and led to the formation of a “Concerned Parents” group concerned with the school’s decision to teach CRT, the lawsuit says.

Critical race theory has been a topic of intense controversy since last September, when then-President Donald Trump’s administration issued a memo ordering a halt to funding for teaching the theory to federal employees.

The former president referred to the studies as “flagrant racism” during a rally in Phoenix last week.

Critical race theory studies the role of race and racism in American society and has been taught for decades. But since Trump’s order nearly 30 states have passed anti-CRT legislation or planned similar legislation, according to the Brookings Institution.

A.P. was told not to attend classes on May 5 and a week later appeared before a disciplinary board, the suit says. “It was conducted via zoom and consisted of A.P. being interrogated non-stop for an hour and 20 minutes by three school administrators, and eventually being reduced to tears,” the suit says. “He admitted and apologized profusely for using the term ‘fag,’ even as a joke with his friend.

“He again adamantly denied directing the (slur) at or using it to refer to a person. Withstanding a hostile cross-examination by multiple persons for that long would be a challenge for most resilient adults to manage; subjecting a teenager with ADHD and dyslexia to such an ordeal was abusive and discriminatory.”

The suit, filed by San Francisco attorney Elizabeth Thompson, claims the principal became angry during the session, that Wood “planted his fists on the table, stared into the camera and declaimed: ‘Your sin is racism. You are a racist and a bigot!’ “He said angrily that the school had been working on racism all year, and he referenced the June 23 letter (calling it ‘the student-to-student letter’) and said it ‘got the parents all upset.’” The next day, the principal called A.P.’s parents and told them their son “would not be allowed to continue attending JHS” and would have his transcript given a notation of “withdrawn - discipline.”

The parents protested, and noted that following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol a Black varsity athlete student had posted a protest on Instagram “which was laced with a stream of racially charged, profanity-laden invective, in which the other student accused ‘you white mfs’ of being proof that ‘White privilege is f----- real,’” the suit says. That student “suffered no apparent consequences” and continued in sports and was allowed to graduate, the lawsuit says.

But, the suit says, “because A.P., himself a person of color, questioned or disagreed with CRT (along with many others who believe it is counter-productive and actually promotes racism), he has been stigmatized as a racist, a bigot, an unrepentant sinner and is being forced to withdraw from the school.”

The suit says A.P’s treatment by Jesuit is “endangering his college prospects” and has caused “extreme and enduring emotional distress” that has led to A.P. seeking counseling. The suit alleges discrimination on the basis of race and disability, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeks general, emotional and punitive damages. Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article253140508.html#storylink=cpy