Mother to Fight School’s Action Over Race Slur

CLOVIS, Calif. — The mother of a black high school senior who was suspended for two days for addressing a friend by a racial epithet at school is fighting back.

Nathan Martin was suspended and given 10 hours of detention because he greeted a close friend, who is also black, with the racial slur. A white student overheard Martin and told school officials.

Martin, 17, said his black friends use the term in a fun, friendly and affectionate way. Buchanan High School officials, however, said the word is vulgar, regardless of who says it or how it’s used. They said it violates school and district policy.

Rosemari Martin, Nathan’s mother, said she will appeal the school’s decision. She wants the suspension expunged from her son’s high school record.

Though school officials said the epithet was vulgar, Martin’s use of the word was not considered a racial slur because it was said in a friendly way from one black student to another.

“If a white student said it to another white student, it would be a racial slur,” said Jim Fugman, deputy superintendent for Clovis Unified School District.

If a student of one race uses a racial slur against a student of another race and if there is also a threat of physical violence behind the insult, then the offending student would be guilty of using hate speech, Fugman added.

About 1% of the 2,600 students at Buchanan are black, 70% are white, 14% are Latino, 9% are Hmong and 1% are American Indian. The remaining students are mostly Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian.