At Baraboo High School in Wisconsin, a graduate’s father rushed to the stage as his daughter was about to receive her diploma, forcefully shoving the district’s superintendent aside as she approached him.
According to The SUN the father appeared to not have wanted his daughter to shake the hand of Rainey Briggs, a Black man and superintendent of the district, which has caused an uproar online.
In a disturbing video obtained by local independent affiliate WRPQ-TV, the man, whose name was not released by police in order to protect the identity of the graduate, can be heard saying “that’s my daughter,” and “I don’t want her touching him.”
He was then removed from school property by police and charged with disorderly conduct.
“This adult felt emboldened to behave in this way in front of hundreds of students and other adults should deeply trouble us all; this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” the school said in a statement.
“No employee of the School District should fear for their physical safety when fulfilling their job duties or at any other time.”
Some of the comments on X, formerly Twitter, believe there may be more to the story, but it appears a majority of people agree this was a clear racist attack.
Most sympathized with not just Superintendent Briggs, but the daughter too, many of which said she looked horrified after seeing what her father did.
“Disgusting. I feel terrible for the superintendent to experience this level of blatant racism,” wrote one user.
“I actually feel sorry for the daughter,” read one comment, “you could see the happiness just drain from her face,” said another.
“Most people like to suggest that Black people make everything about race,” said Black History enthusiast and influencer, Color Full Story in a reaction video of the incident.
“Here we are in 2024 where a white dad refuses to allow his white daughter to shake the hand of a Black superintendent.”
“Sad to see we still gotta deal with stuff in this day and age,” read one comment.
She also says she hopes Briggs presses further charges, saying it needs to serve as a lesson to the “racist bigots” who still “believe they have the power and the right to put their hands on Black people.”
Town History
This incident happened at the same high school that garnered national headlines in 2018 for a group photo of the senior class throwing Nazi salutes in the air at prom.
In fact, Baraboo High School has dealt with many instances in the face of hate in recent years.
From the posting of antisemitic flyers in the hallways to students making videos on the internet mocking teachers with antisemitic and anti-LGBT language, and more.
Baraboo Police Chief Mark Schauf told the Wisconsin Examiner that his department has already had to investigate a handful of these incidents.
“There were students who immediately after the picture came out went around saying ‘We’re Baraboo proud’, kind of implying that they’re not against this,” said Eva Huffaker, a 15-year-old Jewish student at the time of the photo.
“There was an incident where a kid looked at me and he did the white supremacy symbol and then he stood up and did the Sieg Heil,” she told The Guardian in the aftermath of the photo.
“There’s definitely a lot of racism in the school. There is also a lot of homophobia,” she said of her experience in school.
“There’s a certain portion of students who are very aware of these things and definitely they call it out when they see it, but on the whole, I feel like we are actually pretty desensitized to a lot of these topics because it’s so natural for our generation to make that homophobic comment or that racist comment.”
She says the town even came to the boy’s defense, with some even comparing the backlash they’re facing to surviving the Parkland shooting or being a sexual assault victim, which did not sit well with her.
