Valedictorian Rooha Hagher said that officials at Emmett J. Conrad High School in Dallas cut her microphone after she spoke out on behalf of black men whose deaths were allegedly caused by racism.
Hagher explained to KXAS that she and her family moved from Iran when she was 12 to escape religious persecution.
“So it felt really surreal just because to think that around 3 years ago and now, I’m here, like, making As, writing essays and now being the valedictorian of my class,” Hagher explained.
She said that as she was writing her speech, she decided to include the names of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown. Civil rights advocates allege that all three men were killed due to the color of their skin.
But when Hagher got on stage and mentioned the slain men, officials cut off her microphone.
“It made me feel sick, honestly, because I was close to their age and knowing this is a reality that black families have to deal with,” she told KXAS.
Hagher admitted that the principal had scrubbed the men’s names from her speech because he did not want it to be political.
“I never expected to be silenced,” Hagher remarked. “The consequences I was expecting to face was them holding my diploma or having a conversation with my principal.”
“I never expected them to not allow me to finish, because at the end of the day, schools want to raise socially conscious students, students who are able to think for themselves,” she added. “That’s what I was doing.”
On Tuesday, Hagher published parts of her speech on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ItsRoohaHaghar/status/1135567852877025280
https://twitter.com/ItsRoohaHaghar/status/1135654312128983040
https://twitter.com/ItsRoohaHaghar/status/1135713914405228544
https://twitter.com/ItsRoohaHaghar/status/1135717228391936001
You can also give the news story of said situation a watch below…
[via Raw Story]