Stay Racist, Y’all: Texas Valedictorian Silenced During Graduation Speech
Graduating high school senior Rooha Haghar was giving a speech at Emmett J. Conrad High School, as is customary for valedictorians to do during their graduation ceremonies when her mic was cut-off mid-sentence. The abrupt interruption occurred as she was speaking aloud the names of Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. This event speaks volumes (oh, the irony) about a racist system whose refusal to acknowledge its ugly face is one of the primary sources of its perpetuation.
A Speech and an Apology
Haghar told NPR that had she been allowed to finish her speech, she would have said, “to Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and all the other children who became victims of injustice, to the kids across the globe affected by war, famine, persecution, child labor who have lost years of education due to hunger, displacement, lack of finances and lack of educational resources, I’m sorry.” But she was not allowed to finish. Her school’s principal cut her mic as soon as she mentioned the names of these young boys.
The Victims of Our Racist System
Trayvon Martin was a seventeen-year-old, African American boy who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, who claimed the shooting was self-defense. More evidence revealed and Zimmerman’s history of over-reporting crimes as the head of his neighborhood watch, which led many people considered the incident to be a case of racial profiling. Had Zimmerman waited for the police to arrive, or even initiated a dialogue with the young man instead of pursuing him for a crime he had no evidence was being committed, Trayvon Martin might still be alive today. George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder by reason of self-defense.
Tamir Rice was a twelve-year-old African American child who was shot and killed by police officer Timothy Loehmann after reports made of a black man pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing it at people. The “man” in question was a child, and the “gun” was an airsoft replica–a toy. Instead of de-escalating the situation, Loehmann immediately shot Tamir Rice twice on contact and died the following day. Officer Loehmann was not indicted for Tamir Rice’s murder because he claimed that he feared for his life. That’s right; he feared a child with a toy gun just enough to use deadly force.
The Controversy is The Point
When looking over her speech for approval, one of Haghar’s teachers noted that she shouldn’t speak these victims’ names aloud because they were controversial, that it sent the wrong message and would make people uncomfortable. But that was the point.
These names and the stories behind them should make people feel uncomfortable because they bring to mind the horrors of our racist system and the violence expended by the very hands meant to protect us. The very fact that a school would not allow this young woman to use her platform as the school’s valedictorian to call attention to racial injustice shows just how unwilling the people with power are to recognize the racial bias of our system. They refuse to acknowledge its specific targeting of the already marginalized, and to recognize that things need to change.
The Silence that Speaks Volumes
Rooha Haghar’s speech would have paid tribute to these boys and called-out the racist system that did not hold their murderers accountable, but the school’s principal wouldn’t allow such a taboo subject to be the center of attention at the Class of 2019’s graduation ceremony. If we cannot talk about these atrocities, look them in the face, and recognize them for the completely avoidable tragedies that they were, then we have no hope of changing the existing system of oppression.
The blatant disregard for these events and the belief that they should be left in the past or put off for “another time” proves that racism is alive and well. There will never be a better time; the best time is now. There will never be a more appropriate time, the most appropriate time is right this very second.
The fact that two black children were murdered without accountability should make everyone feel uncomfortable. It should make you cringe that their murders were justified because of stereotypes about people of color that our system spews relentlessly and shamelessly. These events should anger you and sadden you, but they should also inspire you to try to be part of the change.
But to be inspired, we have to be willing to hear their names, to remember their stories–even if and especially because it is uncomfortable.
