Justice Dept. Asks Principal’s Ouster in Race Case

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal court in Alabama to order school officials to explain why a rural high school principal should not be fired or reassigned for allegedly making racially derogatory remarks.

In an unusual move singling out a local school official for punishment, the Justice Department claimed that the principal’s alleged statements reflect a school system that continues to discriminate against blacks despite two court orders prohibiting it.

Senior Justice Department officials said privately that they could not recall ever before requesting that an official be fired for discriminatory remarks.

Randolph County High School Principal Hulond Humphries threatened to cancel the high school prom if interracial couples attended and said the child of an interracial couple was a “mistake,” according to motions filed in federal court in Montgomery on the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision outlawing public school segregation.

In addition, the Justice Department charged school officials in new motions in a longstanding desegregation suit with violating court orders by “disciplining black students more harshly than whites and failing to recruit or hire black teachers and staff.”

“This case is not just about one man who made a derogatory remark, but an entire school system that we believe has allowed an atmosphere of discrimination to persist,” said Deval Patrick, assistant attorney general for civil rights, whose office initiated an investigation after complaints from county residents, the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “Today’s action demonstrates that some of the problems that once haunted us are still with us. . . .”

Humphries and school officials could not be reached for comment.

The principal’s defenders have said he meant no offense but was simply trying to avoid racial confrontation, according to published reports. Fights had erupted on campus when interracial couples were seen together, they said.