Greenbrier West High students claim staff deemed the n-word “protected” speech
CHARMCO, WV (WVNS) — A group of Greenbrier West High School students claimed when they reported use of the “n-word” to school staff and a PRO officer from Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department on earlier occasions during the current school year, the staff members allegedly told them use of the “n-word” is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The students said on Monday, March 18, 2024, other students allegedly wrote the same racial slurs, along with misogynistic comments, on a wall inside of a classroom.
Photos posted to social media and obtained by 59News apparently show a student is targeted by name on the wall and is called “n***er” and “gorilla,” among other names, and that aggressively harassing accusations of a sexual nature also appear on the classroom wall.
Daedriela “DaeDae” Carey, 14, said on Monday that she is the student targeted by the comments.
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“The wall said the n- word with the hard r, they called me a monkey, a gorilla, a silverback,” DaeDae said. “They said I had an STD. It said I was a dirty hard-r.”
Zera Mutter, a student, said there is a problem with racism at the school.
“It’s not just DaeDae this has happened to for the, like, Racist Dae Dae Wall,” said Zera. ” There’s other guys, where they would get called to the office, and teachers and the principals would say (use of the n-word is) freedom of speech.”
Greenbrier County Schools Superintendent Jeff Bryant said on Monday that he learned of the classroom wall, which students had vandalized with graffiti, on Friday.
He said he immediately assembled an investigation team who entered the school on Monday morning and that security cameras are positioned throughout the school.
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He said that he is looking into allegations that school staff had deemed use of the “n-word” to be protected speech on prior occasions.
The First Amendment protects five basic rights of Americans: Religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that speech is harassing speech and not protected by the First Amendment if it targets a protected class, it is unwelcome, and it results in deprivation of educational access, peaceful enjoyment of education and interferes with opportunities and rights.
DaeDae’s mother, Nicole Carey, said the harassing graffiti had been on the classroom wall for “several weeks,” based on what other students had told her daughters.
She alleged the classroom is available only to male students.
DaeDae and Zera were among a group of students and their parents who had assembled at the high school on Monday in an attempt to make sure the graffiti was removed.
Zera said she’s in favor of the Greenbrier Schools Superintendent’s Office overseeing complaints of racism and sexism at the school.
“I think they should do, you know, a monitoring system, with their teachers, because it’s also the favoritism,” alleged Zera. “You know, most of these kids that did all this are the football players, the popular kids.”
59News reached out to officials with the West Virginia Department of Education but had not yet received a response on Monday.
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