Federal court rejects Mississippi student’s racial bias suit

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A lawsuit alleging a Mississippi school district discriminated against a Black student and stripped her of an academic award has been dismissed by a panel of federal judges. Olecia James filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 against the Cleveland School District in 2019. She claimed officials prevented her from becoming class salutatorian and awarded the honor to a white student instead because they “feared white flight.” A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals published an opinion Wednesday unanimously affirming a district court decision dismissing her claims. James graduated with a degree from Alcorn State University this past spring and is now a second lieutenant in the U.S. army.