We’ve all heard of Tacky Tie Thursdays, casual Fridays, and Wear Jeans To Work Day charity events. Theme days are common in the workplace, and even in schools. At my high school in upstate New York, we had a designated “Senior Skip Day”. But one high school’s theme day has gone too far and landed them in court.
Red Wing School ISD No. 256 in Red Wing, Minnesota is facing a federal class action lawsuit for an annual “Wigger Wednesday” homecoming celebration.
The plaintiff, Quera Pruitt, filed the claim in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota on behalf of an unnamed class of all students who experienced discrimination as a result of this event. According to the complaint, more than 40 people may be included in the class.
According to a statement by Joshua Williams, Ms. Pruitt’s attorney, the school district has acknowledged that “Wigger Day” took place in 2007 and 2008, but neglected to prevent the event from happening in 2009. Ms. Pruitt’s complaint references a Tenth Circuit decision:
It does not take an educational psychologist to conclude that being referred to by one’s peers by the most noxious racial epithet in the contemporary American lexicon, being shamed and humiliated on the basis of one’s race, and having school authorities ignore or reject one’s complaints would adversely affect a Black child’s ability to obtain the same benefit from schooling as her white counterparts.
Bryant v. Independent School District No. I-38 of Garvin County, OK, 334 F.3d 928, 932 (10th Cir. 2003)
Red Wing principal Beth Borgen and school district superintendent Karsten Anderson, both defendants in the suit, say the school is committed to creating a learning environment free from discrimination. A statement from Superintendent Anderson obtained by the Huffington Post says the school district ”denies the allegations that it has created a racially hostile environment and looks forward to meeting these allegations in court.”
The group of 60 students who participated in the 2009 event forgot the school motto – they chose to focus on racial differences rather than “Purple Pride”.