Now THIS is some racist bullshit.
A high school in Arkansas would not permit a black female student with the highest GPA in her high school to be valedictorian of her graduating class, and appointed a white student with a lower GPA to serve as the black student’s co-valedictorian.
I wish I was kidding. And yes, it is 2011.
When I first read this article, I figured it must be a joke. I thought it was more life-imitates-The Onion theater. It couldn’t possibly be serious, I thought, because: (a) it’s fucking ridiculous; (b) the high school is in Pine Bluff, which is less than an hour from Little Rock; and (c) the young woman’s name is Kimberly Wymberly (my apologies, you brilliant beautiful young woman, but I can’t let “Kimberly Wymberly” slide without comment.)
But nope! It’s not a joke. It’s shameful and all involved should be fired.
Despite being told by school counselor’s that she had the highest GPA, Kimberly was not permitted to serve as valedictorian alone. The girl’s mother claims to have overheard school personnel fretting about letting the Kimberly be the sole valedictorian for fear of causing “a big mess.”
That’s right. School personnel turned what would have been the proudest moment of Kimberly’s young life into sheer humiliation. And, to add insult to injury, when Kimberly’s mother showed up at a school board meeting to protest the decision, the school superintendent would not let her speak because she had filled out the wrong form — the ‘public comments” form instead of the “public participation” form.
Unfortunately, this is not a hoax:
Kymberly Wimberly, 18, got only a single B in her 4 years at McGehee Secondary School, and loaded up on Honors and Advanced Placement classes. She had the highest G.P.A. and says the school’s refusal to let her be sole valedictorian was part of a pattern of discrimination against black students.
Wimberly says that despite earning the highest G.P.A. of the Class of 2011, and being informed of it by a school counselor, “school administrators and personnel treated two other white students as heir[s] apparent to the valedictorian and salutatorian spots.”
Wimberly’s mother is the school’s “certified media specialist.” She says in the federal discrimination complaint that after her daughter had been told she would be valedictorian, the mother heard “in the copy room that same day, other school personnel expressed concern that Wimberly’s status as valedictorian might cause a ‘big mess.’”
McGehee Secondary School is predominantly white, and 46 percent African-American, according to the complaint. Bratton says that the day after she heard the “big mess” comment, McGehee Principal Darrell Thompson, a defendant, told her “that he decided to name a white student as co-valedictorian,” although the white student had a lower G.P.A.
Bratton says she tried to protest the decision to the school board, but defendant Superintendent Thomas Gathen would not let her speak, because she allegedly had “filled out the wrong form. Instead of ‘public comments,’ Gather [sic] said Bratton should have asked for ‘public participation.’” The superintendent told her she could not appeal his decision until the June 28 school board meeting; graduation was May 13.
[snip]
The last African-American valedictorian in McGehee School District was in 1989. Wimberly says the school discourages black students from taking honors and advanced placement classes, “by telling them, among other things, that the work was too hard.”
“Because of defendants’ continuous disparate treatment of African-American students, defendants’ actions toward the plaintiff can properly be classed as intentional,” the complaint states.
Do you see, white people?1 This is why we can’t have nice things.
1 *blank stare.* 2
2 You know why.
(h/t Nelly B.)
[via Think Progress]
[::tap tap:: ::ahem:: I will be adding another blogging gig to my roster. As of last week, Joy-Ann Reid joined NBC News as Managing Editor of TheGrio.com and MSNBC contributor. And, much to my delight, she asked me to contribute because she's awesome, (albeit slightly off her rocker, perhaps?) So huzzah for me! My inaugural post about the South Central Tea Party rally that I attended yesterday will be forthcoming, so stay tuned! (Or don't, for you crankypantses out there.) --ABLxx]
wtf. what kind of mess could that possibly create? certainly not as messy as the case that will follow. i cannot, even with the wildest stretch of my imagination, understand why someone would be made “co-valedictorian” without having the EXACT same gpa. why are school administrators playing politics with their graduating class? i hope the superintendent chokes on his tongue. and loses an eye. and i sincerely hope that the next decade of valedictorians are all black. study hard kids!
What kind of fuckery is this? (RIP Miss Winehouse)
This makes me embarrassed to be Southern and white (mores than usual.) Actually it makes me ashamed for my country. That this could possibly pass as an acceptable response to–not a problem–but an achievement by a black student…ummm, I fail to understand the thought process. These are educators! These people are responsible for kids. What did the assholes think? With a President who is African American, the self-esteem of the poor, disenfranchised white kids couldn’t handle a valedictorian who is black?!?!
I’m pretty sure that it is the adults who are struggling to maintain the status quo. It’s their fucked up worldview that requires the suppression of African Americans. These are the same idiots who say, “‘They’ get Miss Black America, so why can’t we get a Miss White America?” In these situations, the kids are typically not the ones stirring up the bullshit.
Ugh.
Fact: Superintendant was African American
Fact: Kimberly Wymberly had a baby her Junior year and missed considerable # school days
Fact: She WAS named Valedictorian and can always claim she was the Valedictorian. My Senior class had 3 Co-Valedictorians.
Fact: The Co-Valedictorian had more credits and took more difficult AP courses. Try adding facts to your stories and perhaps the anger will decrease.
This was one of those stories where, when I read it earlier, my first reaction was “I can’t believe this!”
And then I thought…”Wait. Yes. I can believe it. And THAT makes it even worse.”
Our society is so fucked and racist and ever-more proud of its racism these days that I can sadly believe this kind of repugnant shit happens, and probably a lot more often than I’d ever know. And you just know there will be a bunch of dumbasses pissing and moaning about TEH RACE CARDZ and claiming this has nothing to do with her race.
Yeah uh-huh sure. And fuck you too. Rawr.
(Also? I’m glad you mentioned her name because I felt like such a jerk for giggling at it :P)
(Also also? I see that you cross-posted this at BJ where I am sure much of the pissing and moaning I referenced above will occur, with relish. Blergh.)
I once sold an expensive horse to people in Pine Bluff Arkansas. From what I surmised it was rich redneck territory. I can’t say I am surprised. Also: the fuckwits basically killed my poor horse out of stupidity. Fuck Arkansas.
I found the Court PDF (sort of) here. I was interested to see if co-valedictorians were usual for McGehee HS, but couldn’t find any info. One thing additional thing that doc says is
Valedictorian fights can be quite nasty – so much so that many schools have adopted a multi-valedictorian approach.
One nasty example was the Blair Hornstine case from 2003. I think she and her judge father won, but then later Harvard rescinded her admission because she plagiarized.
I found this PDF student handbook for McGehee. In it is says:
I see no plurals in here so I guess the rules say class rank #1 valedictorian and #2 = Salutatorian.
It would be great if President Obama could hear about this and call out this school system for their racist fuckery. I know he’s a little busy right now though.
i thought the same thing! but yes, he is very busy.
This is one of those crying times for me. Tell our children to do their best and when they excel….
No more because I don’t have words.
ABL,
re: The Griot
Love you and Joy Reid. I’m hesitant, however, to give full-throated congrats on the Griot gig. Just read an article there entitled “Is Allen West being smeared with the ‘angry black man’ brush?” which was written by a WOMAN! WTF??? And most of the commentors seem to think he was, and that DW-S threw the first stone . . . or something. SMH
I have avoided the Griot over the years because it seems to be a collection of misguided Black folks and/or possibly trolls who post with Black avatars. Still not sure. I’m hesitant to subscribe to the feed because I’m afraid I’ll start screaming at my laptop just because of stupid headlines like the one above.
Looks like you ladies will have your work cut out for you. Don’t think anyone who comments here (or B-J, TOD, BWD etc.) will want to mix it up with that crew.
Joy Reid just took the job. Give her some time to clean house.
hiya jax!
i hear you, sister. just give joy some time. she’s been at the helm barely a week. she won’t let us down. :)
Thanks for your response, ABL [and Allan]. FWIW- I’m not impatient, it was just so scary there! I was concerned. :D
TheGriot will be in good hands. Sending you and Joy best wishes, mojo, prayers, support, whatever.
I’m still laughing how ABL and I were busily typing away at the same time.
Well, how do we help the kid? That’s my reaction to injustices and slights – can I level this out a bit.
For some reason this reminds me of something I heard in an unemployment counseling class not long ago. A young woman spoke about her employment & school history with some shame, asking how to present it. She’d worked since she was 14, and worked herself through schooling a bit at a time. She alluded, nonspecifically to family problems.
Simple filters of “bachelors after 4 years” and “continuous employment / steady advancement” bounce her out. Yet, her character was evident in a moment. She was asking how to get past the filters, get credit for what she had done.
When I’ve been a hiring manager I’ve hired for character over credentials & never been disappointed. I’d hire her in a heartbeat if I weren’t looking for a gig myself right now. So, I told her that, in front of a room full of folks. I told her “find the right people to work for, who will appreciate that you do your best, and give you a chance to succeed.”
I don’t know why that came to me right now.
Here’s an idea. “Winner #2″ colludes a bit with the valedictorian. Then, when it’s speech at graduation time, winner #2 says: “An award not earned is no award at all. So, let me introduce your valedictorian. I did pretty well. She did better.” Then sits. Then the valedictorian talks about achievement and mentions the different, non-gpa achievements of others in her class.
The knuckleheads forgot that they’re running a meritocracy, or should be.
Thank you for talking about this ABL!
I tried calling the county school board and couldn’t get through. Does anyone have a solid POC for complaints?
Let’s slow down a minute and think:
IF Kimberly Wimberly had been the one that was 0.03 points behind, would you have been angry if she had been named co-valedictorian?
Suppose I offer $10,000 to the valedictorian.
The school names 2 valedictorians.
If I give $5,000 to each, clearly the top one “lost” something.
If I give $10,000 to each, how did that hurt the “top” graduate?
This is 3/100ths of a point. It is awfully close. That rank may be the difference between that other child attending or not attending college.
As a parent, I would be thrilled to have my child named either valedictorian OR co-valedictorian. I wouldn’t care if they shared the honor.
IF they had disqualified Kimberly, ranked her number 2 or lower, not let her speak at the graduation, cut her scholarship money, etc. that would have been discriminatory. I don’t see how sharing a title is discriminatory.
That’s a lot of “Ifs.”
I try to deal in facts, not hypotheticals.
CNN has reported the superintendent’s statement; it strikes me as internally consistent. I will write about that later.
I will say, that as a (recovering) attorney, it is no surprise that after the complaint was filed, the superintendent rushed to the press to deny that it’s a racial issue. It is no surprise that he claims not to be able to speak to specific allegations because he hasn’t been served (although the papers have been filed with the court and are therefore public, thus making him very easily able to speak to specific allegations).
I will also say that having experienced racism in school systems myself, I will give credence to the claims of this young woman that black students were not encouraged to take honors or AP classes, and I will not rush to call the mother (who worked for the school district) of the student a liar when she said she overheard school personnel talking about appointing a young teenage mom sole valedictorian as being “a mess.”
The school is in CYA mode and those who cling to the false hope that our society is post-racial will triumphantly declare that this story is untrue and just another example of black folks playing the race card, which, in and of itself, evidences the ongoing race problems in this country, even if this story turns out to be a load of horseshit. Those very same people will gleefully point out that the superintendent is black — look for him to be referred to as “the black superintendent” in order to forestall any questions about structural racism, as if one black guy could fight racism in the system (to the extent it exists here). Also, note how these very same people will ignore the allegations that Black Superintendent serves at the pleasure of the predominantly white school board.
This will become about poking holes in the girl’s story, rather than trying to determine whether racism could have played a part. It will be become about making sure white folks in that town feel good about themselves that they did nothing wrong, and that black girl was just causing a ruckus.
Best,
ABL
I agree, completely with what you’ve said here. I’m a high school English teacher. And there ARE a lot of “ifs” here. We’re left with more questions than answers in this. So, before I get all fired up, I’m going to try to find more details…
@ABL: may i link to this post and your “This will become about poking holes in the girl’s story” comment?
Certainly.
Tina, It’s pretty simple. The action taken is discriminatory because they didn’t want this young African-American student to be named sole valedictorian.
From a WashingtonTimes article:
“But in an ABC interview, Kymberly said her co-valedictorian agreed that given the racial tensions in their town and school, the situation would not have been the same had Kymberly had the lower GPA – even if by a fraction of a point.”
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/politics-raising-children/2011/jul/26/black-arkansas-student-validictorian-white/
How much clearer could it be?
I heard her story over the radio.I felt sorry for her.
nothing’s new here. Seen it all, something similar happened to me too. African Americans are portrayed as lazy, stupid and welfare dependents how no matter how smart you are.
Sorry Kimberly…and welcome to the ‘world’. Be strong, motivate yourself because no one will and you will make it through Med School.
Wait wait what… she had a BABY during the course of all this and STILL managed to have the highest GPA and some of you FUCKTARDS are arguing that somehow this makes her less worthy? Go kill yourselves, please.
Kimberly, no one can take your achievement away from you. You rock. With that kind of determination you will be able to succeed no matter what idiocy people continue to throw at you.
I’m a tad confused. When I first heard of this story, it was on talk radio. At the time, it was reported that the school district took issue with Kimberly being the valedictorian because she was a teen mother, and that would create a problem or send the wrong image in the town. Now, in looking online, everything seems to discuss only her race. The fact that she was a teen mother seems to be an afterthought or a bonus reason why she should get the sole credit in some people’s minds.
I’m also confused as to what the actual GPA’s were. I assume that Kimberly’s was higher, but why does it matter if they were .03 or .05 apart? That’s not in the portion of the student handbook that has been posted.
I think this entire situation is unfortunate and shouldn’t have happened, but I’m positive that her having the title of sole valedictorian will not make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. If she wants to go to college, she can still go. She can even still call herself valedictorian of her high school class because it was the truth. The lawsuit won’t make much of a difference for her, but I hope that it will prevent this from happening to someone else in the future.