The 1950's Called - They Want Their Jim Crow Back

Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Every time I hear some privileged white person say that we live in a world that is beyond racism, beyond institutional bigotry, and we can all now skip through the Daisies in our new, colorblind world, I just want to heave. Preferably all over their shoes. Because they're wrong, wrong, wrong.

Today's reminder of just how wrong they are comes from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where young Kimberly Wimberly graduated from high school this year. Ms. Wimberly is apparently driven, smart, works hard, and has the highest GPA in her graduating class. But apparently that's not good enough if you're also black, female, and a young mother. The principal of the school, one Darrell Thompson, decided that Ms. Wimberly would share the honor with another student who was white, and had a lower GPA.

Ms. Wimberly's mother attempted to speak to the school Superintendent about the issue, but was denied the opportunity on a technicality.

Now, let me be clear - I don't know why Ms. Wimberly was denied the opportunity to be the school's single Valedictorian. Perhaps the principal had some perfectly defensible reason for the decision - that's for the court to decide. But it does appear that a contributing factor in the decision was Ms. Wimberly's race, with her parental status possibly being an additional issue. In my opinion, the fact that Ms. Wmberly apparently has a child makes her academic accomplishments more incredible and admirable, more worthy of respect and recognition. But then, I'm not Principal Thompson, who evidently has a different opinion.

I certainly don't have all details, but it appears to me that Ms. Wimberly is guilty of Excelling While Black. And if it turns out that Ms. Wimberly was denied singular honors because good, Christian girls don't have kids in High School, I really will heave on Principal Darrell Thompson's shoes. With extreme prejudice.

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Fling of the Mortarboard to ntsc358, aka Warner , who has a knack for giving me hypertension.

4 comments:

vince said...

How about a boot to the head, a punch to the throat, and a kick to the balls. Or am I being too harsh?

Steve Buchheit said...

Boot to the head. Or body chained to the hitch of a pickup truck and dragged for a few miles over unpaved stone roads. But then, I like a little poetry in my justice.

Warner said...

My blood pressure was 130/70 last time it was checked about 3 weeks ago.

Tom said...

Hell, I'd say let the '50s have their Jim Crow back. We don't want it here. Unfortunately, it still has a home in the future.