A federal investigation has been launched into school district in Massachusetts after officials there announced auditions for a play – but only allowed "persons of color" to participate.
It is the Department of Education that launched the review into the potential violation of the Civil Rights Act, and Constitution.
Fox News reports the federal agency's Office for Civil Rights got a complaint from Parents Defending Education about a student theater production that limited participation to "students of color."
It was Newton North High School and its production in January of "Lost and Found: Our Stories as People of Color." The show's audition packet confirmed it would be "a reserved safe space for this exploration and for people of color to be vulnerable and support one another," Fox reported.
The student director, in a video on Theater Ink's website, announced that, "All BIPOC [Black, indigenous and people of color] students at North are invited to audition."
But restricting participation based on race is a violation of both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the parents group charged.
Nicole Neily, a founder of PDE, told Fox News Digital, "Administrators at Newton North High School failed their student body by allowing a racially-segregated production to move forward – and missed the opportunity to impart the lesson that racial discrimination is always wrong."
Author: Bob Unruh