Dallas ISD has issued an apology to the Conrad High School valedictorian whose microphone was cut off when she named black shooting victims at the school's graduation ceremony two weeks ago.
"It is never our intent to censor anyone's freedom of speech," the district said Monday in a written statement. "Students have that right — Dallas ISD encourages it."
Rooha Haghar’s speech gained national attention after she posted a video in which her mike was silenced after she dedicated a line of her speech “to Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice and all the other children who became victims of injustice.”
my valedictorian speech was cut short because i said the names of black children who had become victims of police brutality. our principal signaled for my mic to be turned off as soon as i said “trayvon martin and tamir rice” and played it off as a technical difficulty. pathetic. pic.twitter.com/9upW3dZ7Mg
— روحا (@ItsRoohaHaghar) June 3, 2019
The district said it is a practice for all valedictorian and salutatorian speeches to be reviewed. So when Haghar went off-script, the principal made the decision to limit Haghar’s remarks. But the district acknowledged that it is charged with ensuring the rights of all students.
“In hindsight, we realize this decision may not have been reflective of the core values we teach our students, as we work to educate leaders of tomorrow. For that, we apologize,” the district said in the statement.
Haghar said on Twitter that her principal had previously cut out that line from her speech because he was concerned that it sent the wrong message to graduates. But Haghar, an Iranian immigrant, said she was shocked to be silenced for delivering the unedited speech.
Haghar finally delivered her full speech over the weekend after Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, gave her a platform on the Trayvon Martin Foundation website and on Instagram.
In the speech, Haghar asks graduates to remember those who were “robbed" of the opportunity to pursue an education.
Martin was shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, near his home in Florida in 2012. Zimmerman was charged with the murder of the 17-year-old but was later acquitted.
Rice was shot by Cleveland police Officer Timothy Loehman in 2014. Loehman was not charged in the 12-year-old's death and was recently hired by another department in Ohio, according to The Hill.
Haghar plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin in the fall, according to KXAS-TV (NBC5).
