For Immediate Release:
June 5th, 2015
Contact: Kayla Keller, kayla@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 281-682-6212
Civil Rights Group Demands Charges be Dropped for Mississippi Family Facing Jail Time for Cheering at Daughter’s Graduation
New York, NY – A Black family in Tate County, MS is currently facing jail time and hefty fines for cheering for their child at graduation. For violating a “no yelling” policy, Lanarcia Walker’s family was ejected from the ceremony and served with court papers two weeks later from school Superintendent Jay Foster. In response, ColorOfChange has launched a petition demanding Superintendent Foster drop the charges; in less than 36 hours, 40,000 ColorOfChange members have already signed on.
Statement from Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org: “The fact that the Walker family is actually facing jail time and fines for expressing pride in their daughter’s achievement is an outrageous miscarriage of justice. Graduations are commonly noisy events where plenty of white parents cheer on their children and never get charged with a crime for it. What the Walker family did — proudly, enthusiastically support a loved one — is not a crime. In fact, they are the victims here, now facing criminal charges that are clearly driven by dehumanizing stereotypes that Black people are loud, unruly, and disruptive.
“Our communities are no strangers to harsh legal penalties that don’t fit the “crime.” The school-to-prison pipeline funnels our children off to jail for minor infractions before they can even vote. And as we’ve seen in Ferguson, New York City, and Baltimore, seemingly innocent actions like jaywalking, selling cigarettes, and even “eye contact” can result in arrest, brutal treatment by police, and even death. This absurd situation in Mississippi is yet another case of our lopsided justice system at work; Black folks face harsh, unfair legal consequences for the most innocent of actions, which now apparently includes expressing joy over our children’s educational achievements. “ColorofChange is demanding that Superintendent Foster drop all charges against the Walkers immediately.”
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With more than 1 million members nationwide, ColorOfChange is the country’s largest online civil rights group