Black leaders say school incident was mishandled

Local black leaders are angry at the way a literature class at Boulder City High School handled the topic of early 20th century lynchings.

Andrew Brewer, president of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said it was unacceptable for a Boulder City teacher to condone a student drawing of a lynching and allow it to be displayed in a class with just two black students.

The teacher "should have been removed," Brewer said of the situation that was made public during Thursday's School Board meeting.

"You don't hang a picture of a lynching," Brewer said. "You have to be more sensitive than that. This is 2008."

In the Boulder City incident, the girlfriend of a boy involved in the class project hit Endea Dawson, 16, a black girl who complained about the drawing, parents and students said.

Clark County School District spokesman Michael Rodriguez said action is being taken to discipline both "students and personnel." He said he could not be more specific because of the ongoing investigation.

Sources with knowledge of the incident think four students, including three boys involved in the class project and a girlfriend, were suspended or recommended for expulsion. Previously, sources reported that five students were in danger of expulsion.

Parents have identified the teacher who approved displaying the drawing as Charlene Reid. Calls to her home were not returned Friday.

Shawnnyce Dawson, Endea's mother, said students were assigned to write epitaphs of dead characters in a poem by Edgar Lee Masters called "The Spoon River Anthology," first published in 1916. It contains references to lynchings.

Others said the class was broadly studying the early 1900s and the students' drawing reflected their research into the Ku Klux Klan.

According to research performed by University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor Jana Evans Braziel, there were 2,805 documented victims of lynch mobs killed between 1882 and 1930 in 10 Southern states. The vast majority of those killed, about 2,500 individuals, were black.

The white students in the class were not out to antagonize the black students, said individuals who know the juniors and seniors involved, but they did lack the sophistication to understand how their picture might be perceived.

Some students, who asked to remain anonymous, said the situation has been blown out of proportion. Black students make up 3 percent of Boulder City High School's enrollment.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686.