The daily dribble of McGinley apologists finds space on the editorial page of the paper almost every day. You would think that the former superintendent of Charleston County Schools walks on water. Even though her upcoming evaluation from the School Board would have shown just how poorly the district was meeting her goals, the paper (not the public at large) continues to whitewash Nancy McGinley's failures.
One such failure highlights the former superintendent's total lack of understanding of race relations in the district, that of the watermelon. Even that last sentence seems ridiculous. However, the students hurt by the racist behavior of CCSD's employees don't find it so funny. Some of them are suing.
Of course, anyone can sue over just about anything if he or she can pay a lawyer. However, this lawsuit may have some teeth:
The parents of three Academic Magnet High School football players have filed a defamation lawsuit claiming characterizations of the team's controversial postgame watermelon ritual damaged their sons' reputations.. . .
"The students' lawsuit is the result of the students being falsely branded as racists by the defendants," said attorney John Parker, of Hampton County, representing the parents of the three football players.
. . .
At the heart of the lawsuit is the school district's investigation last month into the Academic Magnet High School football team's postgame victory ritual of chanting and smashing watermelons with caricature faces drawn on them. . . .
The lawsuit lays out a series of events beginning on Oct. 16 when Clayton, a diversity consultant for the school district, and Associate Superintendent Lou Martin, who is not named as a defendant, questioned the members of the football team about the watermelon ritual.
"Even though they found no evidence of any racial reason for the team's watermelon celebration after a win, and even though all concerned told them there was no racial reason for the celebrations, they falsely published to others that the football team made animal sounds and drew a monkey face on the watermelon during these celebrations," the lawsuit said.
Following the interview of the team, Martin, according to the lawsuit, described the team's watermelon ritual as one where it would "draw a monkey face on a watermelon and after a victory, would smash the fruit and make animal noises." McGinley, according to the lawsuit, later described the team as making noises that sounded like "ooh, ooh, ooh," which she further characterized as "monkey sounds."
Those characterizations, according to the lawsuit, falsely accused the team of drawing monkey faces and making monkey sounds, "which if true would have been racially derogatory actions intended to equate black members of opposing football teams with monkeys." . . .
Martin's and McGinley's descriptions of the team's ritual, according to the lawsuit, were then published to others and to print and television media, which led to the football team being "falsely depicted" as racists.
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3 comments:
More suits coming, too. Whatever happened to the use of common sense and settling differences amicably? Oh, I forgot. CCSD is run by people who know more than the rest of us and they are under no obligation to educate anyone about what they do and why they do it.
Can the next superintendent please be someone who is not an expert with a briefcase from more than 500 miles away? At least, let them be someone who has an open mind and is willing to listen to others.
The CCSD board is being asked to extend the contract of the diversity expert McGinley hired who is now being sued. You are righht. You can't make this stuff up. Why was this guy hired in the first place? Can't we conduct a discussion about race in Charleston on our own without hiring an "expert" on the subject from "up North" to serve as a moderator?
The cost of this consultant will be $48,000 on top of the $50,000 CCSD has already paid him. More money spent by CCSD administrators without prior approval. More taxpayer money spent on things that have little or nothing to do with the classroom.
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