Editor’s Note: The “Russian Collusion” noted in the title of the article is part of a joke between Rev. Dante Murphy and myself over the political corruption and racism going on in Cleveland County Government. It is Rev. Murphy’s contention that what is mostly termed as “racism” actually springs from “corruption.” And, in jest, we conclude that all this corruption that undermines our Democracy must be a part of the Russian Collusion theory that everybody is talking about.
Although we laugh about the Russian Collusion, Rev. Murphy has hit upon some basic legal truths that prove without a doubt that the suspension of those unnamed Burns High School Students was unConstitutional. That the alleged “insubordination” is bull-ony because the school officials should never have ordered the students to remove Confederate Flags, American Flags or whatever from their personal vehicles to start with. Rev. Murphy provides a Supreme Court Case that clearly shows that the students are right and CCS and Burns High School is wrong. That Case is Tinker v. Des Moines and a link is provided at the end of this article. If you don’t believe the actions at Burns High School, click on the link and read. You will be a changed and convinced person if you do.
Also, The Federal Court Case Rev. Murphy speaks to at the end of his comment was his own Federal Lawsuit against a Cleveland County agency-DSS. Rev. Murphy had the proof and evidence that Cleveland County did wrong and Cleveland County had to pay. But Cleveland County has not learned their lesson. According to Federal Records, Cleveland County has allegedly retaliated against Rev. Murphy for winning his lawsuit and legal action against Cleveland County has begun over that. But like everything dealing with the law and the courts there are processes to go through. My estimation is Cleveland County will have to pay again. And again and again and again until they finally figure out the law applies to them too. My recommendation to the family of the suspended students, find you a lawyer from out of town and file yourself a Federal Lawsuit against Cleveland County Schools. You won’t be the first as the CCS Board already has one Federal Lawsuit against it as does Cleveland Community College that I know of, with others probably on the sway.
This comment below is from Rev. Dante Murphy
Robert,
I am in awe as to how the Shelby Star is being used to manipulate the community. It appears that the newspaper article on the school suspensions were clearly an effort to give the school (favorable) coverage in violating the students First Amendment Rights. Notice that the Star’ article emphasizes that the students were suspended for “insubordination” and not for having flags on their vehicles. There is a legal significance to this because it is clearly established that Schools are not allowed to punish speech just because they don’t like it. They can enact reasonable restrictions to control it, but cannot punish speech based on its content. There is a fancy term called “viewpoint-neutral.” The case Tinker v. Des Moine settled this issue, but only a few know about it. This Conclusion or rather “collusion” was to cover up a scheme to violate the students rights.So, the violation is that the students should have never been instructed to remove the flags from their vehicle (in the first place). That is the action that lead to the insubordination. This could easily be another Title IX (discrimination) action.
This tactic was used last year when the Star wrote the article about the settlement with DSS. In that article they emphasized DSS’s payment having nothing to do with the “admission of guilt.” This perturbed me because the evidence itself pointed to guilt. I encourage somebody, people, to show up at the county commissioners and express themselves Tuesday (May 1, 2018).
Rev. Dante’ A. Murphy
The link to the Tinker v Des Moines case brief is shown below. Click on the link and scroll down to the Supreme Court ruling. You will find proof positive that the schools violated the students rights. But don’t just believe me, read it for yourself. You will learn stuff they don’t teach at CCS. The truth!!! And that is a shame.