Incidents spur black teen to sue school district

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An African-American girl who was allegedly told that her skin was “too dark” to perform during a school dance has filed a racial discrimination suit against the Blue Valley School District.

Camille Sturdivant graduated from Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kan., in May 2018 and was one of two African-American students on the 14-member Dazzlers dance team, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

The suit alleges that Sturdivant suffered racial discrimination and was ostracized from dance team events in retaliation for complaints about how she was treated because of her race.

In 2017, dance team choreographer Kevin Murakami allegedly made the comment about her skin being too dark, saying it would distract the audience from looking at the other dancers.

“Murakami also told Sturdivant that her skin color clashed with the color of the costumes,” the suit alleges.

Last year, the dance team’s coach, Carley Fine, was fired as a result of racial comments she made about Sturdivant, according to the lawsuit.

Shortly before her graduation, Sturdivant was given the coach’s phone to play music for the dance team when she saw text messages between Fine and Murakami.

According to the suit, Sturdivant had recently won a spot on the Golden Girls dance team at the University of Missouri for the next school year. The text messages appeared to discuss that news.

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. I’m so mad,” the choreographer wrote.

The coach responded, “It actually makes my stomach hurt.”

She then added: “Bc she’s (expletive) black. I hate that.”

The suit says that Sturdivant was “sickened” by the texts. She showed them to her parents, who showed them to the school principal.