After-school club in D.C. is racially segregated, violates Constitution, federal complaint alleges

A parent advocacy group has blown the whistle on racial segregation in Washington D.C.’s public schools.

Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Thursday, alleging District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is violating the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment with a racially segregated after-school club.

Documents obtained by PDE showed DCPS is hosting an “Empowerment Club” exclusively for black female students.

According to the flyer, the club is open to “Black girls who identifies as Black, African, African-American, biracial, or part of the African diaspora and nonbinary students.”

The club’s purpose is to promote empowerment, creativity and community. It is also limited to students in 1st grade through 5th.

“The benefits are available on the basis of race and are not offered to all students in the District,” explained Caroline Moore, vice president of PDE.

“As the Department of Education is no doubt aware, discrimination on the basis of race raises concerns that District of Columbia Public Schools has received federal funds in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which declares that ‘no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Moore also told the media that such school programs were responsible for fostering social discord.

“It is unconscionable that this is happening in public schools, let alone in a metropolitan area, at such impressionable ages,” she said. “Public schools should foster all students based on their needs and encourage them to befriend all of their classmates, not just the ones who look like them.”

Sadly, DCPS isn’t the only school system to discriminate on the basis of race.

A Wisconsin mother is suing her dyslexic son’s school for denying him reading intervention services since it prioritizes “additional resources to First Nations, Black, and Hispanic students.”

A white teacher in California recently won $12,000 in a lawsuit against his own teachers’ union after it created a leadership role that excluded white applicants.

And programs in Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin have been criticized for offering benefits and incentives to minority teachers while excluding white teachers.