Middle School Student Wearing Black Face Paint NOT Protected By 1st Amendment
A California middle school student who painted a portion of his face black for a football game is not protected by the First Amendment according to the state of California. Almost a year ago, a student known as J.A. was accused of wearing “blackface” and suspended for two days.
Middle Schooler SUSPENDED & BANNED For Wearing “Blackface”
This young man has obviously left large areas uncovered and is showing an intentional pattern and not the “blackface” he’s being accused of. Eye black is commonly used by football players to defect the sun’s or bright lights’ glare.
Eye black, while originally used to help block bright glares, has more recently been used by some players and fans as intimidation. war paint, and team spirit. Mississippi State lineman:
The student who was banned from future sporting events wasn’t the only student to have a painted face there, and there were no reports of him displaying bad behavior at the game. In fact, security guards and police officers were present the entire night without incident, according to a report by LibsofTikTok.
J.A., his parents, and his lawyers have not shown that wearing the black paint is expressive conduct shielded by the First Amendment, U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez said in a September 30th ruling.
J.A. said he put on the paint during the game to show team spirit, but that doesn’t meet the bar established in other rulings, including a 2019 decision that found “First Amendment protection is only granted to the act of wearing particular clothing or insignias where circumstances establish that an unmistakable communication is being made,” Lopez wrote, according to a report by The Epoch Times.
“Based on the current record, it is not likely that [the] plaintiff can prevail on the merits of his First Amendment claim, nor are there serious questions about it. It ‘is possible to find some kernel of expression in almost every activity a person undertakes,’ such as ‘walking,’ ’meeting one’s friends,‘ or ’coming together to engage in recreational dancing‘ and other sports, ’but such a kernel is not sufficient to bring the activity within the protection of the First Amendment,’” she added later, citing from other rulings.
J.A. was suspended for two days by Muirlands Middle School, which said he was wearing “blackface” despite the black paint being used often by athletes and spectators. Some of the school officials allegedly accused him or his friends of uttering racial slurs during the October 2023 game.
“Just three years ago, the Supreme Court held that schools can only punish students for their off-campus speech in very limited circumstances not present here. The district court never addressed this threshold problem with Muirland Middle School’s actions,” Karin Sweigart, a lawyer with Dhillon Law Group who is representing J.A. and his parents, told The Epoch Times in an email.
“There was no disruption of any kind that would have warranted punishing my client under binding Supreme Court precedent, and that would be true even if my client HAD engaged in a racist act, which he did not,” Sweigart stated. “My client had the right to engage in expressive activity by wearing eye black to show spirit on the sidelines of a football game, and we believe he will ultimately be vindicated as the facts come out in this case moving forward.”
It is unbelievable that while this world has two wars raging that could explode any second, is teetering on an economic collapse of epic proportions, and the ruling classes continue to push to the total and complete enslavement of humanity that the sociopaths in San Diego find it necessary to focus their efforts on young men who enjoy watching sports. -SHTFPlan