NY high school student sues district for painting over her pro-Palestinian parking spot design

NEW YORK — A New York student is suing after high school officials painted over a parking spot that she had decorated with a watermelon slice — a symbol of support for Palestinians.

The lawsuit was filed this month in Brooklyn federal court and argues that the Half Hollow Hills Central School District violated the student’s free speech rights and inflicted emotional trauma on her when it painted over her design in September, just days into the new school year.

The student, who is identified in the suit by the pseudonym Jane Khan, had joined other classmates in decorating her parking spot — an annual tradition at Half Hollow Hills High School West — located on Long Island.

The senior painted a watermelon slice featuring a keffiyeh scarf-like pattern, followed by the phrase “Peace Be Upon You" and her name written in Arabic. The student is described as a Muslim American of Pakistani descent.

“Ms. Khan’s inclusion of the watermelon with a keffiyeh design was an expression of her solidarity with Palestinians -- something she feels arises in part from her Muslim identity and Pakistani heritage," the suit explained.

The watermelon has long been a symbol of Palestinian solidarity as it contains the red, white and green colors of the Palestinian flag, which was banned by Israel in 1967, according to the lawsuit.

The suit, which seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages, maintains the school erased the student's decoration after the principal “interrogated” and “threatened” her in a closed office meeting and with “no meaningful dialogue” with her parents, other students or members of the Asian and Muslim communities.

The student’s lawyer provided a copy of the lawsuit but declined to comment further.

District officials didn’t respond to emails seeking comment Monday. They had said in September that the artwork was painted over in order to maintain neutrality on controversial political matters.

The suit, however, notes that the parking spot decorating tradition has embraced differing viewpoints in the past.

Students over the years have painted the LGBTQIA pride flag, a “Black Lives Matter” fist — even depictions of a donkey and an elephant, the symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties, according to the lawsuit.

“The whitewash of Plaintiff’s pro-Palestinian speech was not to prevent substantial disruption of any school activity or threatened harm to the rights of others, as Half Hollow permitted and even amplified speech on other equally, even more, controversial issues,” the lawsuit states.