Michelle Obama’s brother Craig Robinson sues school over kids’ expulsion
The brother and sister-in-law of former first girl Michelle Obama are suing a Milwaukee college that kicked out their youngsters, with the couple alleging Tuesday the dismissals had been in retaliation for his or her complaints about racial bias.
Craig Robinson and his spouse Kelly introduced their motion in opposition to the College College of Milwaukee on Monday after their two younger sons had been expelled final 12 months.
“As [with] loads of the dad and mom, we heard what was occurring within the classroom due to COVID,” Craig Robinson advised ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday, “and there have been repeated use of racial and ethnic stereotypes that had been in precise assignments.
“The usage of the phrase ‘plantation’ and issues of that nature,” Robinson went on. “Along with the racial and ethnic stereotypes, there was an insensitivity to socioeconomic standing and in addition to a disregard for the youngsters who weren’t bodily within the classroom.”
The Robinsons enrolled their youngsters, ages 11 and 9, on the college in 2016. The varsity expelled their older son in April 2021 and the youthful one in June 2021.
Robinson stated he and his spouse approached the college about their considerations, however it “summarily dismissed our younger youngsters, retaliating in opposition to them due to the problems we introduced up.”
“Simply as current as 10 years in the past, the College College of Milwaukee had of their fourth grade curriculum that college students reenacted the Underground Railroad, and college students dressed up as slaves and ran by way of the college at midnight, and the lecturers had been truly the slave masters who captured these college students,” Kelly Robinson advised ABC.
“One of the opposite tales that we heard was about how the black college students appear to get extra harsh punishments than their white counterparts,” she stated.
Craig Robinson stated he and his spouse are suing to carry the college accountable “not simply to our two youngsters who they retaliated in opposition to, however extra importantly, there’s an entire group of people who find themselves on the market that we wouldn’t really feel proper if this occurred transferring ahead.”
He added that the college should change its conduct, “and it will assist all college students on the College College of Milwaukee.”
The varsity in a letter to the dad and mom stated the youngsters had been expelled as a result of the Robinsons had “not fulfilled the foregoing commitments as a accomplice to USM and its Center College lecturers and directors.”
Steve Hancock, Head of College at College College of Milwaukee, stated the establishment hadn’t been served with the grievance and didn’t have time to overview it.
“We’re not in [a] place to touch upon this pending authorized matter right now,” Hancock stated in a press release to “GMA.”
The Robinsons’ sons now attend a distinct college.
Craig Robinson is at the moment the manager director on the Nationwide Affiliation of Basketball Coaches. He beforehand held the top job at Brown College (2006-2008) and Oregon State College (2008-2014). He later labored for 3 years because the Knicks’ vp of participant and organizational improvement after spending one season in the identical place with the Milwaukee Bucks
Robinson left the Knicks in July of 2020 to take the NABC put up.
