A white woman in Georgia has filed a lawsuit against City Schools of Decatur alleging discrimination and retaliation after she defended a video of her son using racial slurs. Oh white people, y’all never change.
According to AJC, Cheryl Nahmias previously worked at Decatur High School as the school’s international baccalaureate coordinator and instructional coach. Last May, after a video went public of her son wielding a toy gun, using racial slurs, and talking about killing Black people, Nahmias was placed on leave for defending her son’s actions.
After Superintendent David Dude confirmed the then-14-year-old was a student at Decatur High School, there was understandable outrage within the community over the video, with students demanding the boy be expelled. In response, Nahmias issued a statement saying her son “was not making a threat but was inexcusably trying to parody people who make such threats.”
Now, maybe it’s because I’m Black and pushing 30, but I know that when I was 14, “parody” boiled down to butchered Katt Williams quotes and bad Peter Griffin impressions. Usually, the folks saying the shit like this kid were edgelord assholes who meant it. Instead of trying to find an excuse for your kid being racist, the smarter option would’ve just been saying “he was wrong, that was wrong no matter the context, he will be disciplined, I’m so sorry for the pain this caused.”
Bing, bang, boom. See how easy that was?
Nahmias was eventually placed on “special assignment” at the district’s central office and is suing to get her administrative position back. Nahmias alleges in the suit that district employees filed “a frivolous complaint” against her that said her leadership was reflective of the “covert racism and elitism” seen in the video.
The suit also criticizes Dude and assistant superintendent Maggie Fehrman’s response to the video and Nahmias’ defense of her son.
“David Dude and Maggie Fehrman targeted Dr. Nahmias, restricted her communications with colleagues and students, subjected her to a five-months-long sham investigation and fishing expedition, and then in retaliation for her advocacy for herself, her son and prior history of whistleblowing activity, ultimately demoted her for groundless, pre-textual reasons,” the suit reads.
A spokeswoman for City Schools of Decatur told AJC that while the district cannot comment on pending litigation, the district denies Nahmias’ allegations.