Story at a glance:
- White students at Coosa High School in Georgia waved the Confederate flag and hurled racial slurs leading up to homecoming.
- The students with the Confederate flag did not face repercussions.
- School administrators suspended several students of color who were protesting. Two white protesters were left unpunished.
Black students were suspended from their high school for planning a protest after another group of students came to school waving a Confederate flag.
Last week, a group of students at Coosa High School in Rome, Ga., were filmed waving the Confederate flag and hurling racial slurs.
Newsweek reported that the four students filmed were carrying the Confederate flag in favor of “farm day” on school spirit day, which led up to homecoming.
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They did not face any repercussions.
In response, many students said the school did not do much to reprimand the students carrying the flag, and a protest was planned to bring awareness to the problem, CBS 46 Atlanta reported.
However, the school administration suspended several students who were planning the protest. Student protesters told CBS 46 that only Black students were suspended.
“The administration is aware of tomorrow’s planned protest,” the administrator said over the intercom before the planned demonstration. “Police will be present here at school and if students insist on encouraging this kind of activity they will be disciplined for encouraging unrest.”
Two white students participating in the Friday protest were not suspended, even though they claimed to be as disruptive as the Black students, CBS reported.
In Floyd County, which includes Coosa High School, 8 percent of Black students were suspended, the highest percentage of any race, CBS reported.
According to county data, Floyd County is made up of 70 percent white people, 14 percent Black people and about 8 percent Hispanic people.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 14.
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