Phoenix civil-rights leader Reverend Jarrett Maupin is moving forward with a complaint to the Department of Education about Queen Creek High School's "Redneck Day."
Maupin has shared with New Times some of the correspdonance he's had with the Department of Education, and the department's Office of Civil Rights will at least "evaluate" Maupin's complaint of a civil-rights violation, after one student showed up to school wearing the Confederate flag as a cape.
See also:
-"Redneck Day" at Valley School Turns Out to Be a Bad Idea
Anyone can file the complaint with the civil-rights office, but they have to have information about people who were discriminated against. Maupin says he has sworn statements from students claiming discrimination.
Maupin says he's not only fielded calls from local African-American people outraged that a school would actually hold such a "school spirit" day, but says there were Queen Creek High School students who were intimidated by the use of the Confederate flag, which he says was also featured on another student's shirt.
He previously pointed to the state's ban on "ethnic studies" classes (in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way), which ban schools teaching stuff that "promotes resentment toward any race or class" and advocates "ethnic solidarity" or are designed for a "certain ethnicity."
At the very least, Maupin's looking for some sensitivity training at Queen Creek High School.
The school district superintendent told the Arizona Republic at the time this was blowing up that "the only intent of Wednesday's event was to satirize the A&E reality TV show 'Duck Dynasty.'"
We'll keep you updated if the Department of Education decides to start a full-on investigation.
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