White student sues school claiming harassment for befriending blacks

Jet, Oct 6, 1997

A 17-year-old White student recently sued the two top officials at his former high school for unspecified damages, claiming he was ridiculed for having friendships with Blacks and accused of "acting like something that he was not."

Curt Bentley said in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, that he suffered humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress from the principal and vice principal at Elkmont High School whose actions were so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it. As a result, the lawsuit continues, their actions caused Bentley to fail 11th grade last year.

The lawsuit claims Principal Steve Pettus called Bentley's father to inform him that his son was walking down the hall with his arm around the shoulder of a Black student, and that he also was dancing with a Black girl at the homecoming dance. Pettus then went on to say that he was "sick of the way Curt acted and that everywhere they went Curt was hanging out with Blacks." Additionally the lawsuit alleges Pettus said, "We are not going to put up with this behavior up here."

Vice Principal Stan Davis told the student during the second six-week period of the '96-97 school year, according to the lawsuit, that he acted like a "nigger."

Bentley's attorney, Kimberlyn Malone, said school officials violated equal protection and civil rights laws.

The lawsuit against both school officials also names the Limestone County school system. Elkmont is about 25 miles northwest of Huntsville, in northern Alabama.