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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Crime / News Harassed Former Student Wins Settlement From Aberdeen School District

Posted by on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 10:15 AM

Russell Dickerson III, a 20-year-old former Aberdeen student who endured harassment throughout junior high and high school—including being labeled a "dog" and a "stupid nigger"—will receive a $100,000 settlement from the school district for failing to stop the harassment and provide a safe learning environment, announced the ACLU today.

“Public school officials must be held accountable when they fail to meet their responsibility to act decisively when a student is subjected to harassment by his peers," said Sarah Dunne, ACLU-WA legal director in a statement released today. "This settlement sends a message to school districts statewide to take strong action as soon as they learn that a student is being bullied."

As we previously reported, from 2003 to 2009—i.e., throughout junior high and high school—Dickerson endured near-constant harassment from other students on the basis of his race, sex, and perceived sexual orientation. Students tripped him in hallways and threw food at him in the cafeteria. In one incident, three students pushed him to the floor in the hallway and smashed a raw egg on his head; only one of the students was disciplined.

At Aberdeen High School, the harassment escalated.

Students pinched and fondled his chest, spat on his head, and threw objects at him. Students created a website mocking Dickerson and his perceived sexual orientation, and posted threatening racist comments on it.

Dickerson and his parents repeatedly reported these incidents of harassment to district administrators, both verbally and in writing—even after being discouraged by an assistant principal from reporting the abuse. “I learned from my parents that you should never give up," said Dickerson. "You should fight for your rights—you don’t just walk away."

The lawsuit, filed in December 2010 by the ACLU in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, argued that the deliberate indifference to ongoing harassment by the school district, which receives federal funds, violated federal law – Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The district’s negligent inaction also violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

 

Comments (17) RSS

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1
Awesome. Get 'em Russell! Too bad the kids who harassed him, and their parents, aren't paying too.
Posted by tacomagirl on January 26, 2012 at 10:32 AM
2
Awaiting the cry about how a victim of bullying is now profiting it in 3... 2...

Truth is, this is going to be most effective way to drive schools to respond adequately to bullied kids. In one sense, it's a shame the case ended in a settlement, but I can understand why all parties would want to bring it to a close.
Posted by Punditwatch on January 26, 2012 at 10:45 AM
3
YES! THIS. Make those craven school official bastards pay actual money that impacts and threatens their jobs and only then will they pay attention to harassment complaints.
Posted by arrant on January 26, 2012 at 10:46 AM
4
Congrats Russell, invest your money wisely and keep up the fight whenever necessary.
Posted by neo-realist on January 26, 2012 at 10:47 AM
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn 5
@4

Or spend it foolishly, if it makes you feel better. It's your money.
Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn on January 26, 2012 at 10:54 AM
6
I wish that part of this settlement required a public apology by all of those who bullied him and the from the school officials who did nothing .. actually they should be fired
Posted by olive oyl on January 26, 2012 at 10:56 AM
bedipped 7
This is a great victory. Nothing can really pay for years of abuse, but I'm glad he had the supportive parents and the ACLU to bring some justice. Is there any kind of guidebook somewhere for bullied kids and their supporters about documenting abuses and attempts at reporting?

I'd bet $5 that taxpayer money paid significantly more than $100k for the defense of the district?
Posted by bedipped on January 26, 2012 at 11:00 AM
rob! 8
Go to the ACLU-WA home page and watch the video.

He's a gentle, well-spoken, and good-looking young man. His settlement will allow him a top-notch college education someplace a long way from Aberdeen, figuratively and literally.
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on January 26, 2012 at 11:03 AM
9
I get sick to my stomach when I read stories like that. It CAN'T have happened without school teachers/administrators turning a blind eye at the least, possibly even providing tacit approval at worst. It doesn't even seem like enough money, honestly. I do hope he uses the cash to bankroll a good college education. I wonder, do school districts have insurance for things like this? As with so many things in life, it seems that hitting them in the pocketbook is a better way to change bad behaviour than appealing to basic decency. Sigh.
Posted by teamcanada on January 26, 2012 at 11:16 AM
10
Awaiting the cry about how a victim of bullying is now profiting it in 3... 2...

Taking longer here than expected, but anyone who thinks the kid and his parents think it was worth it for the "payoff" is a stupider fucking idiot than we can imagine.
Posted by seatackled on January 26, 2012 at 11:17 AM
rob! 11
It would sure be great if some of the "popular" kids—the athletes, cheerleaders, student-government types (and the brainiacs, anywhere they have status)—would spend some of their social capital and befriend or stick up for the bullied kids. It happens, but not often enough.

Churches, if they wanted to do some actual good for the youth instead of boring the shit out of them in the pews, should be providing positive encouragement for them to stick up for the downtrodden in their daily lives.
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on January 26, 2012 at 11:29 AM
12
Good for Russell, standing up to the bullies and persevering until he got justice!

But less praise to The Stranger--and the ACLU--for failing to acknowledge that Russel was targeted, in addition to his race, sex, and perceived sexual orientation, because of his weight. You mention that his tormentors called him "fat ass heifer" and pinched and fondled his chest. In the ACLU's complaint they quote classmates telling Russell "you got quite a bust going on" and mocking his "man tits." That doesn't add up to fat-hating harassment to you? Or is it just not as important? Or (sadly, in the case of the ACLU and their harassment complaint), is it because size isn't a protected category, so this kind of harassment isn't specifically prohibited?

Bullying and harassment aren't going to stop until we recognize them and resist them in ALL their forms.
Posted by marymc on January 26, 2012 at 11:56 AM
13
Good for Russell. Aberdeen is about as backwards as a town can be without time travelling.
Posted by suddenlyorcas on January 26, 2012 at 12:14 PM
Reverse Polarity 14
@12, Yes, yes, bullying a student for being fat is morally repugnant... but it isn't legally actionable. As far as the law is concerned, it is far easier for the ACLU (or anyone else for that matter) to sue when the harassment is based on an official protected category, such as race or sexual orientation. Pragmatically, it is simply an easier case to win if you leave the fat harassment out of the suit.
Posted by Reverse Polarity on January 26, 2012 at 1:07 PM
15
@14--So we should just let it go, un-remarked? Not so very long ago, harassment based on sexual orientation wasn't legally actionable (still isn't, in some US jurisdictions). And before that, so was harassment based on gender, and before that, race... Those things didn't become unacceptable and illegal until enough people noticed, and spoke up about them. Yes, the ACLU couldn't make a case in court against something that's not illegal. But in talking about the case, we certainly can recognize it and call it for what it is--anti-fat bullying, on top of all the rest of what this kid was subjected to--and we can say that it's ALL wrong, and it ALL has to end.
Posted by marymc on January 26, 2012 at 2:10 PM
tomsj 16
@7 - You beat me to the punch. The $100K awarded to this very deserving student wasn't paid for by some amorphous "school district." It was paid for by you and me, our tax dollars at work. The only real question in terms preventing this kind of discrimination in the future is: which administrator(s) was fired. If the answer is none, then there's absolutely no motivation for anyone in this district to make any effort to prevent this kind of discrimination in the future. I'm happy for the victim, but don't expect anything to change.
Posted by tomsj on January 26, 2012 at 4:38 PM
17
How fucked up is it that the city of Aberdeen website uses the slogan "Come As You Are" on their homepage.
Posted by codswallower on January 26, 2012 at 10:39 PM

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