Reply #21: I wrote a letter to the editor, I was so pissed

[Rabrrrrrr]

Shame on Johnny Mitchell and the administration of St. Jude Educational Institute in denying Alysha Cosby the right to walk the stage and receive her degree, her honor, and maintain her dignity like every student who earns that right.

She met the requirements for graduation, so singling her out for humiliation and punishment simply because she is pregnant is plain vindictiveness. The reasoning of the myopic and spiteful administration stem solely from a prejudice that felt shaming a young woman for the “crime” of being pregnant was more important than showing her the common human dignity that Jesus asks us to show.

This is especially sad because St. Jude is ostensibly Christian, at least according to its claims and its charter. I fail to see anything modeling Jesus in denying this public honor to a hardworking young woman, in showing the malicious audacity not to even print her name in the program, and to heap further indignities upon her by having police escort her and her family from the church sanctuary.

My kudos to Ms. Cosby for her Jesus-like courage to show civil disobedience against the money-changers of St. Jude’s. I pray for a day when all teenagers will know a similar wisdom and courage to stand up for what is right and to refuse to cooperate with injustice and oppression.