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Jamie’s father was murdered violently while she was in middle school. To honor his memory, her family made sweatshirts with an airbrushed image of his face and name. It was this memorial that later led to her suspension from school in Huntsville, Alabama.

During her first-period class, the principal called Jamie to his office. A school resource officer – a police officer stationed in Huntsville City Schools – immediately interrogated Jamie. With a photo from Jamie’s Instagram account in his hand, the officer asked, “Are you part of a gang?”��

The colors of Jamie’s commemorative sweatshirt, which she was wearing in the photo, apparently raised suspicions that she was a gang member. The officer also claimed that the “OK” sign she was making with her hands was a gang sign.

When Jamie attempted to explain herself, the officer snapped: “Be quiet or you will be suspended. … We can take you to jail for this.” There was no formal disciplinary hearing for her to explain that the sweatshirt wasn’t a sign of gang membership, but rather the sign of a daughter honoring her slain father.

Nevertheless, she was suspended for five days.

Jamie wasn’t the only one subjected to such treatment. School officials regularly trawled social media sites for student photos that might violate its code of conduct. The district even hired a former FBI agent to track student social media activity.

When students were expelled over social media posts, there was a glaring racial disparity.

During the 2013-14 school year, 12 of the 14 students expelled over social media posts were African-����Ӱҵn students – a disturbing figure when considering that African-����Ӱҵn students are only 40 percent of the district’s student population. During our investigation, we interviewed 22 African-����Ӱҵn students who were expelled, referred to GED programs or placed in alternative schools because of their social media posts.

Even worse, records show that African-����Ӱҵn children represent 78 percent of��all expulsions��in the district.

Earlier this year, the Southern Poverty Law Center urged a federal court to ensure there are safeguards within the school district’s discipline policies to end this disparity. Our ��recommendations were included in����in a long-running Department of Justice case involving the school district, which is currently under a 45-year-old desegregation order.

It was clear from our investigation that the district’s policies were pushing out students who were no threat to other students. We encountered dozens of African-����Ӱҵn students expelled for simply posing with BB guns in their own backyard or with a group of friends at home.

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