Mississippi School Discriminated to Avoid White Flight, Lawsuit Claims
CLEVELAND, Miss. — At least 1,000 angry white residents gathered in the streets of Cleveland, Miss., in the late summer of 1969, determined to send a message to any African American children thinking about enrolling at Cleveland High School: Don't.
Earlier that year, federal courts had ordered the school to allow black students to enroll. Like so many other southern towns, the district had been split between two high schools: the all-white Cleveland High and the all-black East Side High School, formerly known as Cleveland Colored Consolidated High. Nearly 50 years after that order, though, the Delta high school remains embroiled in battles over desegregation.
When senior Olecia James, who is black, reviewed her grade transcript last May, she ranked second in her class—supposedly making her Cleveland High School's 2018 salutatorian. Days later, though, the principal announced a white male student as the 2018 salutatorian.
"For what reason would you do that?" Lisa Ross, James' attorney, quizzed the Jackson Free Press on May 3. The answer, she says, is white flight.
Read more: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/may/07/mississippi-school-discriminated-avoid-white-fligh/