NO BLACK VALEDICTORIAN ALLOWED!

18-year-old Kymberly Wimberly spent her 4 years of high school striving for excellence. Her years at the McGehee Secondary School near Little Rock, Arkansas included a record of near straight-As, Honors and Advanced Placement classes, and the highest GPA in her class. So it came as no surprise when Kymberly was told she would be the valedictorian of her class. Except, less than 24 hours later, that sole honor was rescinded.

You see, Kymberly Wimberly is black, in a predominantly white southern high school where only 46% of the students are African-American. So instead of awarding the young student for her hard work and dedication, the school denied her the top honor because she is black, according to court documents filed by Wimberly’s attorney.

Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened in the school’s history. According to court documents:

“The defendant’s actions were part of a pattern and practice of school administrators and personnel treating the African-American students less favorably than the Caucasian ones…Until Wimberly, the last African-American valedictorian in the McGeeHee school district was in 1989.”

Wimberly’s mother said in their federal discrimination complaint that after her daughter had been told she would be the class valedictorian, she heard whispers of discontent over her daughter’s race. Apparently, school personnel thought that naming Wimberly valedictorian would cause a “big mess.” So what did they do? School Principal Darrell Thompson decided to name a white student as “co-valedictorian,” even though Wimberly had a higher GPA and a press release had already been sent out to the local paper naming her as the sole valedictorian.

Wimberly and her mother protested, but the school board refused to hear their appeal. Mother and daughter are now seeking punitive damages for violation of equal protection rights under the 14th amendment of the U.S. constitution.