Federal civil rights official urges high schoolers to speak out on bullying

It’s been 49 years since Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream Speech,” yet a top civil rights official says he’s amazed at some of the discrimination and harassment that continues across the country.  Thomas Perez, head of the Civil Rights Division at the US. Department of Justice spoke to high school freshmen in Lexington Wednesday about bullying. He urged students to have the courage to speak out against people who treat others unfairly.  Perez spoke of several incidents where victims were targeted because of their race or religion, and a case pending in Kentucky that alleges two people severely beat another man because he is gay. Perez also praised Fayette County Public Schools for recently expanding its anti-discrimination policy to include gender identity and sexual orientation.