Mother Files Lawsuit Against Nevada School After She Says Biracial Son Received Failing Grade In Sociology Class for Refusing to Confess His ‘White Dominance’

A Black mother is suing her son’s Nevada charter school after she alleges he received a failing grade for refusing to link aspects of his identity to oppression and dominance in a sociology class. Gabrielle Clark and her son William Clark filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of Nevada against public charter school Democracy Prep Agassi Campus in Las Vegas on December 22 claiming a violation of constitutional free speech and due process rights. William Clark says while in the “Sociology of Change” class taught by Kathryn Bass, who’s named as a defendant in the suit, he was harassed and punished for refusing to attac labels to aspects of his identity. Clark whose deceased father was white, is “generally regarded as white by his peers,” according to the complaint, and he has “green eyes and blondish hair.”

The far-right advocacy group International Organization for the Family, which has been tracked the case closely reports that a judge said on Feb. 26 a temporary restraining order hearing,  “I think William is likely to succeed on the merits’ of his compelled speech claims,” saying that “defendants will have to find a way to justify the Critical Race Theory curriculum under a strict scrutiny test,” adding, “that’s a high bar to meet.”

Bass who’s a self-described “white, Irish, American citizen,” Clark was allegedly forced to reveal his race, gender, sexual and religious identities and attach labels to the identities, which the lawsuit says is a violation his right to privacy.

A instructional slide included in court documents shows dominant groups in American culture as “white,” “male,” “middle/upper class,” “heterosexual,” and “protestant/Christian,” while “everyone else” is categorized as “submissive.”

There were also labels such as “white” are associated by Bass with “privilege,” while terms like “female” and “working class” are associated with “oppressive.”

The Clarks’ lawsuit makes several claims about Bass saying she referred to the students as “social justice warriors,” and informed them that they would have to “undo and unlearn” beliefs, attitudes and behaviors associated with oppression. Bass was accused of using a meme featuring an image of SpongeBob SquarePants to communicate to students that “reverse racism doesn’t exist.”