California family sues over eighth-grader’s suspension

The parents of a California middle schooler accused of wearing “blackface” while trying to emulate his favorite football players with eye paint are suing over the “ridiculous decision to suspend” him.

“The only people showing absolute racism right now is the school administrators,” dad Daniel Ameduri said of his 13-year-old son, only identified as J.A. for privacy reasons.”

“There wasn’t even a real investigation,” he told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.

The young football fan said that “no one said anything” at the Oct. 13 game when he covered his cheeks and chin — claiming a black security guard even encouraged him to put on more.

“Everything was normal. No one said anything. It was a normal football game,” said J.A., who put on the eye paint himself as he had done many times before. said.

But a week after the game, the principal at Muirlands Middle School called him and his parents in to tell them that J.A. was being suspended for two days — and barred from attending any future athletic events.

A disciplinary notice said J.A. “painted his face black at a football game” and characterized the incident as an “offensive comment” that was “intent to harm.”

Principal Jeff Luna reportedly said it was offensive because Morse High School, one of the schools whose team was playing, is “largely black,” according to Cal Coast News.

Attorney Karin Sweigart, however, argues in the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of California that J.A. was simply emulating “eye black warrior paint” that is often used by athletes during a game.

“And so for them to take an innocent activity of just having, you know, going to a football game and cheering for the other team and out of nowhere, with no evidence, say that this was a hate crime is just a ridiculous leap in logic,” she told CBS 8.

“He did not know what ‘blackface’ was, it was [a] new concept to him,” she argued.

“It’s just ludicrous.”

Lawyers representing the family have previously argued that J.A’s “appearance emulated the style of eye black worn by many athletes,” noting that “such use of eye black began as a way to reduce glare during games, but long ago evolved into ‘miniature billboards for personal messages and war-paint slatherings.”

That is different from blackface, they argued, which is “‘dark makeup worn to mimic the appearance of a black person and especially to mock or ridicule black people.’

The newly filed lawsuit argues that the San Diego Unified School District is violating J.A.’s First Amendment right to free speech and failed to provide the student with due process.

“We’re suing the principal directly, the superintendent and then the people who made the decision to rubber stamp the principal’s ridiculous decision to suspend J.A.,” Sweigart told “Fox & Friends.”

The suit seeks to get the suspension removed from the boy’s school record, with the Center for American Liberty arguing it “could impact his ability to gain acceptance to figure high schools, colleges and certain occupations.

“J.A.’s future is on the line,” the Center for American Liberty says on its website.

“In America, we stand proudly on the idea that the accused are innocent until proven guilty,” the website says. 

“We can’t let cancel culture trample on such a fundamental principle.”

The Post has reached out to the San Diego Unified School District and Principal Luna for comment.