GOSHEN – The family of a Minisink Valley High School student has taken the first step toward a lawsuit seeking monetary damages alleging the district has a history of racialism and racism. The court action seeks damages to be determined by a jury.
N’Senga Kinzonzi was the target of a classmate’s racial slur on social media when a boy took a candid photo of her and posted it with a comment using the “N” word and saying she should be lynched.
Her family’s attorney, Michael Sussman, filed a notice of claim against the school district claiming officials have known about a history of racism, but has done nothing about it.
“The district bears responsibility for the acts like the ones conducted here,” Sussman said. “N’Senga had a right to a safe and discrimination free educational system and environment that was certainly not accorded to her, was not accorded to her brothers, sister, and many other kids of color and we believe that the district knowledge of this hostile environment and did not act appropriately to deal with it over many years.”
Kinzoni’s three siblings, all either attending or attended Minisink schools, maintain they too have been bullied or the brunt of racist comments or caricatures.
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