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

Reuters

Published Apr 24, 2024 06:59PM ET

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

"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 lawsuit said.

The school did not respond to a request for comment.

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.

"Their speech has been suppressed because the school does not want their viewpoint - which concerns the ongoing war in Gaza and its effects on the Palestinian people - to be heard," the lawsuit adds.

The Gaza war has caused intense discourse and anti-war demonstrations across the United States, Israel's most important ally.