Pro-Palestinian US high school students accuse school of censoring speech

25/4/2024 11:31

        Some U.S. students at Washington, D.C.'s Jackson-Reed High School filed a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging the public high school's administrators censored them by prohibiting pro-Palestinian events.
        
        The lawsuit said administrators treated the Arab Student Union, a student club at the high school, differently from other groups like the Black Student Union and the Asian Student Union by restricting its activities.
        
        The lawsuit said, "For the past four months, it [the Arab Student Union] and its members have been trying to engage in expressive activities at the high school - showing a documentary film, putting up posters, distributing literature, presenting a cultural program - but have been stopped at every turn by the school administration."
        
        The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint, which was reported earlier by the Washington Post, urged the court to ask the school to allow the students to engage in their activities before June 7, which is the last day of the school year for seniors.