Doug McIntyre (KABC) sued by LAUSD "reconquista" charter school

The Los Angeles charter school Academia Semillas del Pueblo - funded by the National Council of La Raza and which allegedly teaches a "reconquista" curriculum - is suing KABC-AM radio host Doug McIntyre for slander.

While I haven't seen it, the description makes the lawsuit seem incredibly weak:
"McIntyre implemented a premeditated scheme to bring down the school at all costs because the school educated predominately ... Latino-indigenous children in a non-Western European format," according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, McIntyre began criticizing several aspects of the school last May, including its funding, curriculum, demographics, administrators and educational statistics, all in order to increase his show's ratings.

McIntyre exploited a combination of anti-immigration sentiment and the nation's fear of Islamic terrorists to "create a racist fury against Latino school children, teachers, administrators and staff at the school," according to the lawsuit.

McIntyre's remarks included, "Is this a reconquista school?," "This school is ranked the lowest of the low in the LAUSD and in the state of California" and "Aztecs butchered and ate Spanish invaders. I wonder if they're teaching that at ASDP," according to the lawsuit.
About the only possible slanderous thing I can see is if there is another school that's even lower in the rankings, but see below.
McIntyre also said Aguilar's job was to "keep his school, his madrasa school, open so they can train the next generation of Aztec revolutionaries," according to the lawsuit.
What exactly is the figurative meaning of "madrasa", and doesn't it apply in this case? Likewise with "revolutionaries".
The radio host also used "code words" aimed at a target audience to rile up listeners and create a backlash against the school and Aguilar, the lawsuit stated.

As a result, the school received many threats of violence, including a bomb threat that caused an evacuation of the school and is currently under investigation by the FBI, the lawsuit stated.
That might be something else, but it's not slander. Of course, there's nothing wrong with creating a "backlash", and I doubt whether McIntyre encouraged his listeners to commit violent acts.

On the other hand, the man who allegedly tried to run down KABC reporter Sandy Wells will have a pretrial hearing next month and could get six years in prison.

In related news, the school's charter was reapproved on March 29:
In a March 13 report on Academia Semillas del Pueblo, the staff cited low test scores, unconventional instruction and potentially conflicting school governance. About two weeks later, facing growing political pressure from former City Councilman Richard Alatorre, former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg and others, the staff changed course.
They reversed their decision supposedly because they discovered that the school's program requires seven or eight years to show results:
Under the five-year renewal conditions, Semillas must meet benchmarks that for three years would place it at least at the median of comparable schools in terms of state and national standards. Data show Semillas ranks lowest among similar schools.
Related:
More on the NCLR-linked racial separatist charter school (LAUSD)
LAUSD: alleged separatist school abiding by charter

Comments

The truth is an absolute defense in defamation suits, and that's a good thing the reconquistas will get some exposure to repulse the rest of America. McIntyre should ride with this one...milk out the litigation and broadcast the discovery process. I imagine testimony like "but the kids are learning mandarin for the new world order, you brutal gringo invaders of our bronze continent!" The implications of localized (e.g. chicano) truths versus real ones in litigation is compelling, to say the least.

More from the L.A. Times: L.A. charter school sues radio station Academia Semillas del Pueblo claims a talk-show host made slanderous remarks that led to security risks. By Tami Abdollah and Howard Blume, Times Staff Writers April 19, 2007 A year-long feud between a talk radio personality and an L.A. charter school is ending up in an unusual court case. School administrators filed a lawsuit this week against KABC-AM (790) and Doug McIntyre, alleging the host of "McIntyre in the Morning" targeted the school in a slanderous, racially motivated OOOOHHH, RACIALLY MOTIVATED! FOR A SCHOOL THEY DON'T SEEM TO KNOW MUCH ABOUT CIVICS: WHAT YOU CONSIDER NATIVIST OR RACIST SPEECH IS PROTECTED UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND ALSO NOT SUBJECT TO FCC CENSORSHIP (THEY JUST CARE ABOUT OBSCENITY) campaign last summer that resulted in a bomb threat to the school and ongoing security risks. Academia Semillas del Pueblo and Marcos Aguilar, the El Sereno school's co-director, claim McIntyre "targeted the school for destruction because the children were Latino, the teachers were Latino, the principal director was Latino," according to the suit. TARGETED FOR DESTRUCTION? HOW EXACTLY? I HOPE THE JUDGE DOESN'T LAUGH WHEN SHE READS THESE PLEADINGS. UNLESS SHE'S REEEAAALLLY PC, SHE'S GONNA SAY 'ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR REAL?' About 92% of the school's 327 students are Latino. The school was founded in 2002 with the mission of "providing urban children of immigrant families an excellent education founded upon native and maternal languages, cultural values and global realities," with teaching primarily in Spanish. MAN, WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN? I'M AFRAID TO GUESS WHAT THEY THINK 'GLOBAL REALITIES' ARE BUT LOCALLY HERE IN THE U.S., WE STILL HAVE A FIRST AMENDMENT. It became a focus of controversy last year when McIntyre accused the school of pursuing a racist, separatist and dangerously revolutionary agenda. The allegations were looked into by Los Angeles Unified School District officials. They found nothing politically worrisome, but they did have serious concerns about the school's low test scores, which were a secondary focus for McIntyre. The conflict between KABC and the school first made headlines last year. Last June, a man tried to run down a KABC radio reporter who was outside the campus interviewing parents. The suspect was arrested on assault charges. School backers insist the incident had nothing to do with them. SO THEY HAVE A BIG BEEF WITH FREE SPEECH BUT I'M GUESSING THEY'RE VERY FORGIVING OF THIS MAN'S ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON KABC spokesman Steve Sheldon said the station would not comment on the lawsuit. McIntyre has worked for KABC for about five years. His morning talk show, which is from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., has been on the air for roughly two years and is advertised as offering a "balanced look at the day's hot topics with a healthy dose of humor that keeps listeners coming back

for more." Talk radio hosts have long taken advantage of 1st Amendment free speech protections that give them broad latitude. The suit alleges, however, that McIntyre is guilty of civil rights violations for inciting others to harm the school and its students, as well as slander. AGAIN, WHAT EXACTLY DID MCINTYRE TELL HIS LISTENERS TO DO TO HARM THE SCHOOL? OK, HERE WE GO. CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. HE HATES US BECAUSE WE'RE LATINO BUT WHAT IS THE ACT? According to the court filing, McIntyre made a number of false statements, including: "His [Aguilar's] job is to keep his school, his madrasa school, open so they can train the next generation of Aztec revolutionaries. Again, I want to make sure that we emphasize this: This school should close." The lawsuit also quotes McIntyre as allegedly saying: "Aztecs butchered and ate Spanish invaders. I wonder if they're teaching that at ASDP." KABC would neither confirm nor deny whether McIntyre made those statements. As a result of McIntyre's comments, the school has had to hire security guards, adding tens of thousands of dollars to its operating costs, Aguilar said. I SEE. I'M SURE A COURT WILL AGREE THAT'S WORTH SHREDDING AMENDMENT ONE OVER (SARCASM). The lawsuit follows the firing of radio host Don Imus last week over a racist and sexist remark, which set off a large-scale debate over whether some talk-show hosts go too far. "Shock jocks" are not new, said Marty Kaplan of USC's Annenberg School for Communication. "The more they could make your jaw drop … the more their ratings went up — it has since become a standard genre." My take: A taxpayer funded charter school with such an ethnocentric curriculum is clearly not a matter of public concern. How dare McIntyre talk about them! His 'crime' is bringing a lot of attention and unwanted publicity to the school. I think they're just mad because he brought scrutiny upon them. Now they are bringing more upon themselves.

What are the employment prospects for a person with a Latino-Indigenous education in a non-Western format? Does that pay well?

"The truth is an absolute defense in defamation suits..." This is still true in the US, but not in many of our sister "democracies" like Canada and most of Western Europe. In those countries Multicultist dogma trumps free speech and you can be fined or jailed for criticizing homosexuals or specially protected ethnic minorities.

Hmm 92% Latino, I wonder what the other 8% is? The Academy is no doubt a 501 C 3 non-profit and as such should have their tax exempt status revoked if they discriminate on the basis of race. Ditto for La Raza another tax-exempt organization, 501C entities are not supposed to engage in political propaganda.

Do not be intimidated by racist and unconstitutional bullying. You will win any litigation La Raza could mount. Yours is an important case because free speech by anyone who questions the Left us under attack. It is everywhere. Question the lack of science behind global warming, advocate border control, recruit for the military or CIA on campus, criticise a islam, apply a measurable standard to public education and you will, as you know, see their full fury. One piece of advice - counter sue for frivolous litigation and ask for a big number. That will teach them not to gamble.