Santa Monica High School racial bullying update
Najee Ali files second civil rights complaint
Najee Ali, director of the civil rights group Project Islamic HOPE, has filed a second federal civil rights complaint with United States Attorney Andre Birotte’s central district office concerning the racially motivated attack and taunting with a noose of a Black teen at Santa Monica High School.
Principal Hugo Pedroza, Superintendent Tim Cuneo, and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School district are named in the complaint.
“Superintendent Tim Cuneo, along with the principal of Santa Monica High School and other school officials, had knowledge of the hate crime that was committed. Superintendent Cuneo, and Principal Pedroza’s delay in reporting the hate crime, and not notifying Victoria Gray, mother of the victim, was part of a shameless coverup of a vicious racist attack and hate crime. Without question, a hate crime was committed. We now know that police were never called by district officials, (who) had collected student cell phones and deleted photos of the incident.
“Not reporting the crime aside, destroying photos (or evidence) is an obstruction of justice and can lead to criminal prosecution. So, we are calling for the U.S. attorney’s office to conduct a swift and complete investigation and hold accountable Superintendent Cuneo, Principal Pedroza, and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District for the coverup of a hate crime,” said Ali in a statement.
While the Santa Monica Police are handling the criminal behavior in the incident, the investigation into whether or not school administration inappropriately handled the situation has been directed to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
According to the Sgt. Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police, the department is still in the middle of investigating the incident, but has not yet made substantial progress due to the difficulty of contacting possible witnesses who may be on vacation for the summer.
Santa Monica police issued this statement Tuesday regarding the alleged racial bullying incident that occurred at Santa Monica High School:
“During the course of this ongoing investigation, officers were informed of allegations that school administrators had handled the incident unlawfully. Due to the close relationship between city and school district administration, the police department has referred the allegations of misconduct by school administrators to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for investigation.”
Has lynching come to California? It doesn’t have to be a hanging, you know, and it doesn’t have to cause death. Still, if the report is true, this incident close enough.
Score one for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, and Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic Hope, for their very emotional outcry about the so-called “Django Unchained” slave dolls. On Friday, Jan. 18, the Weinstein Co. announced that it has asked toy maker NECA to discontinue the “Django Unchained” action figure dolls after receiving complaints that the dolls were offensive and trivialized the horrors of slavery.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A community tribute will be held in Leimert Park today to honor Rodney King, the motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers led to the city’s worst riots.
The 47-year-old King was pronounced dead early Sunday after being pulled from the bottom of the backyard swimming pool at his home in the 1000 block of East Jackson Street in Rialto in San Bernardino County.
Kevin Ross (“America’s Court with Judge Ross”), the former California Superior Court judge, along with TV writer/producer Michael Ajakwe and Project Islamic Hope’s Najee Ali, took the support of “Red Tails” to the next level with Occupy Red Tails, a movement designed to raise awareness and encourage support for the feature film.
