DAILYMAIL -- A school psychologist working with deprived African Americans has sparked fury from civil rights groups after saying that black thugs should be ‘put down like the dogs they are’.

Mark Traina, who works in suburban New Orleans, has posted dozens of racially-charged rants on Twitter.



The married 55-year-old has even accused ‘black thugs’ of ‘declaring war on the American way of life’ and adds that ‘the real terrorist lives among us’.

He ignited further fury when he said that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s killer George Zimmerman was ‘the real victim’ and the night watchman ‘held his ground’ against the unarmed intruder.

Now, the civil rights organisation Southern Poverty Law Center has attacked the Jefferson Parish School Board for employing Traina.

They also claim he has helped the board send ‘a disproportionate number of black and disabled students to alternative schools to languish for months’.

Traina is partly responsible for placing pupils in special needs campuses.

In another online post, Traina indicated he supported the segregationist policies of former Alabama governor George Wallace.

In March he remarked on the Republican presidential primaries by writing: ‘I grew up in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana - I am a Wallace Man at Heart!’

Eden Heilman, a lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the Times-Picayune: ‘It's particularly alarming to have someone who works for the school system in a position of authority be pro-segregation.’

The group’s action has prompted an investigation by the school board, superintendent James Meza revealed after learning about the Traina complaint.

The U.S. Department of Education's office of civil rights will be also sending representatives to Jefferson Parish this week.

Although Traina insists that he doesn’t represent Jefferson Parish - only himself. ‘I make that very clear in my comments’, he told the newspaper.

His most incendiary tweet was written among a slew of offensive comments made on the social media site on January 14.

He wrote: ‘Young Black Thugs who won't follow the law need to be put down not incarcerated. Put down like the Dogs they are!’

Since then he has tempered some of his language – perhaps in response to criticism.

He even went on to write recently: ‘Mark A Traina is an American Civil Rights Activist who unlike Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton represents all Americans.’

Traina has responded to the allegations in comment threads on NOLA.com.

Referring to the Southern Poverty Law Center, he wrote: This is just another way to harass the Jefferson Parish Public School System.

‘One only needs to read the Times Picayune to see who the real trouble makers are. Sadly, it is disproportionately young black males.

‘Everyone knows that our jails throughout the United States are disproportionately filled with black people. Why would the rate be any different in an educational environment?’

He added, ‘Everything I said is fact-based, backed up by data. I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body. I'm not a racist. I'm a realist.’

SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148232/Young-black-thugs-need-like-dogs--School-psychologist-sparks-civil-rights-group-fury.html