Two Black Students Won School Honors. Then Came the Calls for a Recount.
Source: New York Times
Two Black Students Won School Honors. Then Came the Calls for a Recount.
After two white families claimed a grade calculation error, a Mississippi school added their children as co-valedictorian and co-salutatorian, reviving questions about race and equity.
By Stephanie Saul
June 11, 2021
Updated 7:06 p.m. ET
At first, it seemed a joyous occasion. There was an audible gasp in the room, then boisterous cheering and applause when the announcement was made: Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple had been named 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian for West Point High School.
The president of the local N.A.A.C.P. in West Point, Miss., Anner Cunningham, smiled as the two young women, both standout students, were photographed. It was a beautiful and proud moment to witness two young, Black ladies standing side by side given such honors, Ms. Cunningham said.
But almost immediately parents of other students near the top of the rankings raised questions about who should have been honored. Within days, and breaking with longstanding tradition, West Point High School decided to name two valedictorians and two salutatorians with two white students, Emma Berry and Dominic Borgioli, joining the Black students who had already been named.
And in the nearly three weeks since that senior awards night, West Point, a mostly Black town in the northeastern part of the state, has been split largely along racial lines, roiled by a dispute that included threats, a potential lawsuit and allegations of racism posted on Facebook.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/us/west-point-high-school-valedictorian.html
MerryHolidays
(7,715 posts)dawg day
(7,947 posts)That 'white superiority" is actually "white inferiority"-- that if there is a level playing field, pretty soon there's a whole lot of competition for what used to be "safe white spots."
Same thing with women-- I was just noticing that when I was considering law school, 90% of the students were men, and the notion was, "Women can't be lawyers because they aren't tough enough or analytical enough." At least, that was the idea until they were forced to have gender-blind admissions, and what do you know, now more than half of law students are women. Maybe it wasn't actually male superiority all that time?
Maybe the only thing that keeps white men "supreme" is, you know, "white supremacy"?
(Well, and entrenched power and wealth also.)
walkingman
(7,615 posts)Permanut
(5,608 posts)cbabe
(3,541 posts)an 8th grade teacher with my essay grading. I didn't know the students and gave grades depending only on the quality of their work.
Uh, oh. The teacher remarked, 'Really? This kid?'
And this was one of the few teachers at this school whom I believed to be truly unbiased.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,985 posts)Marrah_Goodman
(1,586 posts)I can't imagine how sick of it African American are.