The following post appears courtesy of the Civil Rights
Division and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky,
Kerry B. Harvey.
Last week, Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for
the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division spoke to all the
ninth-graders in Lexington, Ky., public schools and encouraged students
to prevent bullying by embracing diversity.
The event was jointly organized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the
Eastern District of Kentucky and the Fayette County public school
district to help educate students on the topics of bullying, harassment
and discrimination in schools.
Approximately 700 students attended the event while around 2,400
participated from their respective schools through a live classroom
feed. Students also took part in a question and answer session after the
speech, with some submitting questions about bullying through emails
and text messages to Assistant Attorney General Perez and others who
were part of a panel.
Assistant Attorney General Perez:
“Today’s bullies are often tomorrow’s civil rights
defendants. It’s important for schools to foster a learning environment
where diversity isn’t just tolerated but embraced.”
Assistant Attorney General Perez conducted a press conference for
local media and student journalists. The student journalists will
compose stories on the topic for dissemination throughout their
respective schools as a way to increase awareness about bullying.
Studies show millions of students nationwide are bullied at school;
including being shoved, pushed, tripped and even spit on by other
students. The Anti-Defamation League found that bullying victims are
more likely to engage in behaviors such as illegal drug use, dropping
out of school and suicide.
As part of his visit to Lexington, Assistant Attorney General Perez
also spoke about civil rights to at the University Of Kentucky College
Of Law. He participated in an event attended by approximately 175 local
leaders. Audience members also heard from the U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Kentucky, Kerry B. Harvey, who described the U.S.
Attorney’s Office’s ongoing civil rights initiative.
The office and its law enforcement partners have been very active in
investigating and prosecuting civil rights cases. Earlier this month,
the leader of a sex trafficking ring in Kentucky, Marco Antonio
Flores-Benitez, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. When
Flores-Benitez pleaded guilty to the charges in May, it marked
Kentucky’s first conviction for sex trafficking. Three other
defendants were also convicted and sentenced.
At an afternoon community event, the U.S. Attorney’s Office presented
awards to officers from the Lexington Division of Police who helped
investigate the sex trafficking case. In addition, two officials from
the University of Kentucky received awards for assisting the USAO in its
civil rights efforts.
For more information about the department’s civil rights work, visit justice.gov/crt.