Lawsuit over school ban on Black Lives Matter shirts dropped

Credit: Effingham County School District

SPRINGFIELD, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge agreed Friday to dismiss a lawsuit that had accused a Georgia school district of racial discrimination, including for barring students from wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts.

The dismissal was requested by attorneys for students who filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Savannah. The attorneys said they are new to the case and plan to file a new version of the complaint later.

The lawsuit accused school administrators in Effingham County of a broad pattern of racial discrimination. Allegations included that students were prohibited from wearing Black Lives Matter shirts. to school events while white peers got to wear shirts with Confederate flags. 

The lawsuit listed as plaintiffs three unnamed Black teenagers who attend high school in Effingham County, where 65,000 people live in rural and suburban communities west of Savannah. The original complaint was filed by the mother of one of the teens acting as their attorney.