From 2000:

[theweaselking]

ACLU sued on behalf of Tulsa gradeschooler accused of "casting a magic spell that made a teacher sick"

Oh man.

No indication of how it turned out - it's an 8 year old case.

Comments

[anivair.livejournal.com]

Yeah ... that's going to be one very sorry school. The ACLU doesn't play and the painful lack of evidence is going to make this pretty much a no brainer.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Can't find a result of the case. It's old, but still hilarious, now.

[kafziel.livejournal.com]

Sounds like summary judgment in favor of the school. (http://www.bubbaworld.com/witches.html) Exactly what you'd expect out of Oklahoma, really.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=Brandi+Blackbear

Long story short, the ACLU sued for ten million dollars and refused to accept a settlement, and then the judge dismissed the charges and ordered the Blackbears to pay $6,000 in court costs, which they couldn't afford. Eventually, they agreed to forgo their appeal of the dismissal in exchange for dropping the "fine".

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Silly me, searching based on the case title instead of the complainant's name.

But the wikipedia article doesn't match the news articles of the time - the judge's dismissal wasn't based on the facts of the case, and wasn't even based on the law of the case. It was based on his personal belief that since she *wasn't* a wiccan and didn't really *want* to wear pentacles and practice wicca, that the school's suspension of her, vilification of her, and institutional mistreatment of her "because she is a witch" didn't matter.

Apparently, blatant discrimination and mistreatment on the basis of "witchcraft" is only actionable in OK if you're a wiccan. I wonder if he'd rule the same way on behalf of an arab child who was beaten and ostracised for being a muslim when he wasn't one, or for a straight child suspended for being "gay".

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Aw, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease ya. My Google-fu failed me in public earlier in the week, and I wanted to share the love.

And, for the record, the more I look at the Wiki article the more I wonder whether it isn't discussing the plot of the Lifetime after-school special instead of the actual history, so perhaps I shouldn't quote from it too heavily.

IANAL, but I'm afraid to say that I think that is the correct interpretation of anti-discrimination statutes in the United States. In order to make the legal claim that someone was discriminating against you for being an Ick, you actually have to be an Ick. The statutes just aren't designed to protect non-Icks even if they choose to behave in such a way that a reasonable person might believe that they're Icky.

Of course, if an Arab child is beaten for being a Muslim when he wasn't one, then he contests on the grounds on discrimination based on race or national origin or something like that, or you just skip it and nail the bastards for assault and battery without regards to the motivation. I don't know if there is a federal law that says that public school students can't be suspended for dumbassed reasons or if there is any reasonable appeals process that goes beyond the local school board. Obviously, the school could not possibly have evidence to support the allegation that the teacher's sickness was based on the girl casting a spell. On the other hand, without looking over the evidence I'm not sure how much we should trust the Blackbear's claim that she actually was suspended for the perception of her religious beliefs and not for deliberately acting in a vaguely threatening Columbinesque manner. (Whether the latter merits suspension is a whole other conversation, of course.)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The reason given for her suspension alleged that she had
A) threatened to cast spells on students, who were afraid of her because they were stupid and believed in magic, just like their parents.
B) actually cast one spell already and made a teacher sick. They dropped this reason pretty quickly and tried to pretend they never said it.

[sanityimpaired.livejournal.com]

Judge ruled that the suspensions came from terrorizing other students by threatening to cast spells on them, and that the claim of religious persecution was a frivilous money-grab.

Which makes sense. If one student threatens to cause harm toother students by beating them with a wet noodle, it's still a threat of harm.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be considered slander and defamation of character, if they called you an "Ick", spread the rumor that you were an "Ick" and you were not an "Ick"?

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Defamation is a tough case in general. If John knows that Brandi dresses like a Goth, has heard rumors that she has threatened to cast spells on fellow students, checks a book of comparative religions out of the library, and then one of her teachers gets sick, is John wholly malicious in concluding and disseminating the rumor that Brandi is responsible for the teacher's sickness or will his claim that he reasoned in good faith find favor with at least one (Oklahoma) juror? I don't know that one. It feels like a Catch-22 to me, because I wonder if I am being disrespectful of Wicca by presupposing that there is no such thing as magic.

And I'd think there is even less cause to go after the school district for repeating the rumor, since the suspension records are probably intended to be private and may well be privileged anyways.

IASNAL, of course.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Disgusting. What a backward, vile, repellent school and people. Utterly reprehensible.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Heh, I remember that case. It got a lot of attention among a lot of people I know, for obvious reasons. I don't recall what the outcome was, though.

[eididdy.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the same thing would happen if they found out someone prayed that a teacher got sick.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Now that is an Excellent Question.

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

Really hard test tomorrow, huh?

[sanityimpaired.livejournal.com]

Alluded to above, but they made a for-TV movie out of this. I wonder how much the family got paid for the rights.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Seriously, that's insane

I hope they're sued so hard the headteacher has to sell his boyd on the streets. This is just disgustingly wrong