Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : ‘Buckwheat’ Remark Spurs Suit Over Yearbook : Race: Palmdale High security director objects to a passage that compares him to a character in the ‘Our Gang’ comedies.

LANCASTER — A black school employee who was compared in a yearbook to Buckwheat--the character from the “Our Gang” comedies of the 1930s--filed suit over the reference, contending that it has caused him “mental, physical, and nervous pain and suffering.”

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Lancaster on behalf of George Jenkins, seeks unspecified damages from the Antelope Valley Union High School District and James Gardner, faculty adviser for the Palmdale High School “Falcon” yearbook. The suit accuses the district and Gardner of publishing and distributing “racially offensive material” in the 1993 yearbook.

Jenkins, a campus security director at Palmdale High, was “subjected to racial slurs, demeaning comments, ridicule, great humiliation, anxiety and depression” after the yearbook was distributed, the suit states.

The suit also contends that the comparison was a violation of Jenkins’ civil rights.

The comparison of Jenkins to the big-eyed, grinning Buckwheat was made in a section of the yearbook in which students identified the personality they thought of when “someone says your favorite teacher’s name.”

Gardner said Tuesday that he was unaware of Jenkins’ action but added: “There is no basis for the suit.” He earlier said the comment was made in jest and was not racist.

R. Rex Parris, the Lancaster attorney representing Jenkins, said, “Anyone with any reasonable sensibilities would recognize you don’t call a black person ‘Buckwheat.’ ” Students at Palmdale High School have been suspended for using the term, he said.

“A lot of the initial comments was that this was a joke, that calling him this was a joke. . . . Making a reference like this is not a joke. It causes real pain and real damage,” Parris said.

According to the suit, Gardner’s failure to edit out the comparison before publication, or correct it before distribution of the yearbooks, was “done for the purpose of causing (Jenkins) to suffer humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional and physical distress because of his Afro-American heritage.”

Gardner earlier said he asked the yearbook publisher to remove the Buckwheat reference, but it was not done. Parris said yearbook students have declared that there was no effort to remove the item.

In addition, the school promised to cover over the reference before handing out the yearbooks but failed to do so, Parris said.

The high school district is responsible, Parris said, because it failed to do anything--such as remove the page--to correct the yearbook after publication.

Robert Girolamo, superintendent of the Antelope Valley Union High School District, said Tuesday that he was unaware that the suit had been filed and could not comment on it.

Parris said that although it is too early to know for certain, he expects Jenkins to be awarded significant monetary damages.