Institutional Racism Is Alive And Well

I thought it was a tradition in American schools to honor a student's hard work. And one of the ways schools do that is to make the senior student with the highest grade average the valedictorian and the student with the second highest average the salutatorian for the graduating class. At least that's the way it's done at most schools. But there's a high school in Arkansas that does things a little differently.

Kymberly Wimberly, 18, got only one "B" in during her high school years -- all her other grades were an "A". That gave her the best grade average of any graduating senior at McGehee High School this year. It should have meant that she would be named the class valedictorian. Instead, she was named a "co-valedictorian" and had to share the honor with a student who's average was lower than hers.

You might wonder why Miss Wimberly was denied her rightful spot as the only valedictorian since no other student could equal her grade average. Well, it turns out that Wimberly is an African-American student and McGehee High School is a majority-white school. The school superintendent and "other school personnel" decided giving the honor to Wimberly alone (even though there's no doubt she earned it) might cause a "big mess". So they elevated the second-place student, who was white, to co-valedictorian and gave the salutatorian honor to another white student (even though that student, also white, had only the third-highest grade average).

Making matters even worse, when Wimberly's mother tried to speak to the school board about this obvious injustice she was denied the opportunity. The superintendent said she had filled out the wrong paperwork and therefore was not allowed to address the board.This whole affair just stinks of racism.

The superintendent and "other school personnel" are racists for making the girl share an honor that she won outright. And the school board members were racists for allowing the injustice to happen, and then compounding it by refusing to her her mother's complaint. And I have to wonder about the citizens of McGehee (located in the southeast part of the state). Would it really have caused a "big mess"?

This whole rancid mess should put to rest any idea that since the election of an African-American president this country has entered a "post-racial" period. It has not. Racism is alive and well in the United States (and actually seems to be getting worse since the last presidential election).

The girl's mother has filed suit in federal court. She is justifiably asking for punitive damages and demanding the school declare her daughter the only valedictorian. As far as I'm concerned the school district may as well just get out their checkbook. There's no way they can justify their racist actions.