Boy, 9, suspended for using term 'brown people'

Wednesday, November 28, 2007  

A 9-year-old boy in Phoenix, Arizona, was suspended for allegedly using the term "brown people" but his mother says it's the principal who should be in trouble.

The boy violated the Abraham Lincoln Traditional School's hate crime code, according to officials. He was suspended for three days.

But Sherry Neve says her son never made those remarks. And in a parent-teacher conference that she recorded, the principal said it was acceptable to harbor racist feelings as long as they aren't voiced.

"As we said to (the boy) when he was in here, in your heart you may have that feeling, and that is OK if that is your personal belief," principal Virginia Voinovich is heard saying on the tape.

The suspension is under review by the Washington Elementary School District.

Get the Story:
School hate-crime suspension to be probed (The Arizona Republic 11/28)