Teacher compared Black students to monkey as Pennsylvania class laughed, lawsuit says

Miami Herald

28-01-2025

A sophomore sitting in a math class at a Pennsylvania school watched as his teacher held up a photo of a monkey, then compared the picture to a Black student in the room, according to a lawsuit.
The teacher then turned to the sophomore student, who was also Black, and made another 'derogatory' comparison to the photo as his peers laughed in the background, a lawsuit said.
'It was such an emotional reaction that he had to being compared to a picture of a monkey that that kind of … really started his reaction towards the school district,' the student's attorney, Nicholas Miller, told McClatchy News in an interview.
As the boy worked to comprehend subjects such as math and science while navigating a learning disability, he faced racial discrimination that was later also applied to his younger brother, the lawsuit said.
Now, a federal lawsuit filed Jan. 24 said the two brothers were discriminated against for their race at Cumberland Valley School District in Mechanicsburg.
This is the second racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the school district in less than three months. A November lawsuit accused the school district of perpetuating racial discrimination against a Black cheerleader, McClatchy News reported.
McClatchy News reached out to Cumberland Valley School District for comment on Jan. 28 but did not immediately receive a response.
The attorneys representing the family suing the district have said they have not been contacted by anyone representing the school district to discuss the accusations of racial discrimination.
'There needs to be a sit-down,' attorney George Farneth told McClatchy News. 'There needs to be a dedicated, dedicated effort to investigate all this.'
As the older brother continued to be singled out for his race, his anger at teachers, administrators and fellow students grew, the lawsuit said.
He was moved to the front of the bus on his first day of school so he and other Black students could be monitored, the lawsuit said. Later on, a bus driver told his white girlfriend that she was 'too good to be with someone like (the student)' because of his race, according to the complaint.
The student's frustrations grew in the classroom as he did not get the help he needed for a learning disability, the lawsuit said. Instead, he was referred to as an 'angry Black youth,' while the lawsuit said white students received the learning support they needed.
'The fact that somebody can be labeled as that without looking at the environment, it's absolutely ridiculous,' Miller said.
The lack of support, including not receiving an individualized education program, forced the student to repeat courses while white students were able to advance, according to the complaint.
When the student was targeted by his peers for his race, the lawsuit accuses the school of unfairly punishing the Black student while white students were given lesser or no punishments.
In 2022, the student received a text of a white student holding a gun and threatening the boy, according to the lawsuit. He confronted the student about the photo, the lawsuit said, and was suspended.
The white student was not punished, and the incident was written off as 'boys will be boys,' according to the complaint.
The following year, the teen got into another dispute with a student and was placed in an 'illegal and criminal restraint hold,' the lawsuit said.
Miller told McClatchy News that a security officer placed the teen in a 'full Nelson headlock.'
'The reason that that is considered to be illegal is because of the harm that it can cause somebody. It can cause tremendous damage to somebody,' Miller said.
As the student was subjected to racial discrimination at the school, his younger brother watched the struggle and faced discrimination himself, the lawsuit said.
His friends 'repeatedly refer to his race in a derogatory fashion,' and the younger brother has become more 'docile and defeated' in light of the discrimination, the lawsuit said.
As a result of their treatment at the school, the two boys feel deprived of their right to free speech and fear retaliation, among other emotional distress, the lawsuit said.
Beyond the two students, the lawsuit and the attorneys say the school district has a long history of discriminating against students of color.
'They are so stoned in their beliefs that nothing needs to change, and they have ignored everything that has gone on within that small district.,' Miller said.
Mechanicsburg is about a 110-mile drive northwest from Philadelphia.