Michelle Obama's Brother Sues Wisconsin School Alleging Racism After His Children Were Expelled

Former first lady Michelle Obama's brother and sister-in-law are suing their children's former school, alleging racial bias.

Craig Robinson and his wife, Kelly, claimed that their two sons, aged 11 and 9, were expelled from the University School of Milwaukee in Wisconsin last year after they raised concerns about racial bias in the school's curriculum.

The Robinsons filed their suit Monday and said any monetary award will be donated to initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion in schools.

"We're moving forward with this for a couple of reasons," Craig told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. "We want to hold University School of Milwaukee accountable not just to our two children who they retaliated against, but more importantly, there's a whole community of people who are out there that we wouldn't feel right if this happened moving forward. The third reason is, this needs to stop and change and this will help all students at the University School of Milwaukee."

The school had promised a "supportive, inclusive" learning environment in the enrollment contract, the couple said in the lawsuit. However, they began noticing issues while helping their kids with virtual schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"That allowed us to look into the classroom and what we saw was a repeated use of racial and ethnic stereotypes in actual school assignments," Craig told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Some of the assignments and projects were offensive to people of color, people with disabilities, indigenous people and other under-represented students, the couple claimed. They said they took their concerns to the school staff, who were initially interested in addressing the issues and working with the Robinsons to improve the curriculum.

Kelly said she followed the school's reporting system to submit two reports last year about classwork that had "socioeconomic insensitivities." However, things took a turn when she had a disagreement with the school's head Steve Hancock.

The lawsuit included an email from Hancock, where he told Kelly that she failed to follow the school's expectations for parents and engaged in "disrespectful and deflating" communications.

In another email, also included in the lawsuit, Hancock said the Robinsons' children would not be allowed to attend the 2021-22 school year and blamed Kelly's communication for the decision.

Many other parents started sharing similar instances on social media after hearing about the expulsion of their children.

The school, in a statement released Tuesday, defended the decision to expel the children and noted: "We cannot and will not tolerate persistently disrespectful, bullying, or harassing behavior directed at our devoted and hardworking teachers and administrators."

Craig said the school's response "validates" their decision to take legal action.

"This just proves that USM doesn’t get it and is unwilling to accept responsibility for the toxic culture it has created around issues of race – as countless families can attest," he said.