A recent Black graduate is claiming that administrators wouldn't allow her to say her entire name during commencement after a viral TikTok video showed her snatching a mic out of a woman's hands during the ceremony.
The young woman - who goes by Kadia Iman on social media - is seen wrestling the mic from a white school official and telling the audience that she was denied a chance to say her full name.
Kadia's altercation has made its way around the internet, as universities and schools across America have been accused of racial and cultural insensitivity by not letting students have equitable graduation celebrations.
The brief clip shows Kadia and the administrator tussling over the mic before the influencer snatches it away and proclaims her grievance.
"I want the mic. Let go... you didn't let me get my moment," she asserted. She told the audience her full name and continued to say, "I am graduating today."
"I don't like how you snatched the mic out of my hand, so today is going to be all about me," she added before dropping the mic and walking off.
She posted the video online only to be met with tons of support from her community and others responding that they've had similar experiences.
Responding to one user, Kadia posted a video saying, “Basically what happened was, I was walking on, and we had to announce our names before we get on the stage, and I was saying my name... my name is long, obviously, I have like three syllables in it, so I didn’t even finish getting to say my name."
"And then the people that went before me, they all got to say their name, their major, and even some extras. Me and the other girl noticed she was pulling the mic down super fast for some Black people. I don’t want to be that person, but that was the tea," she continues narrating on social media.
"So I just couldn’t let that happen because I just feel like I worked so hard to graduate and went through so much s*** to graduate that I just felt like I had to reclaim my moment."
"I’m sorry like, I’m not a problematic person, I don’t want to ruin no ones day, I don’t want to violate anyone… but that’s what she did. She didn’t even let me finish speaking, she put the mic down and cut me off and that was the only time I was able to speak., so I just felt like that wasn’t right," finished Kadia.
Students are denied diplomas for dancing, wearing regalia at graduations across US
In another instance of students accusing their administrations of taking racist actions at graduation, one of the responses to Kadia's story mentioned that another student, Abdur-Rahman, had her diploma denied for something she did at graduation.
A tweet from activist Marc Lamont Hill reads, "This young woman, Hafsah Abdur-Rahman, was denied her high school diploma for dancing on stage. Philadelphia High School for Girls should be ashamed of themselves. They humiliated this young woman. For NOTHING."
Hafsah is just 17 years old and says the principal of The Philadelphia High School for Girls warned students that their families could not cheer or clap when they walked on stage on June 9. She said she understood the rules. “I’m like, ‘Do not say nothing, because I want my diploma,’” she said in an interview.
But when the teenager's guests cheered and clapped for her, she says she was denied her diploma.
“If they thought that I shouldn’t do the Griddy across the stage and the Girl’s High traditions, nobody should have been able to wave or blow kisses or do period signs, because I feel like that’s the same thing,” Abdur-Rahman said. “So, I just thought it was really unfair.” She was apparently one of three students who did not get their diploma that day.
In another incident stemming from Oklahoma, where the student is actually suing the school, Lena Black — who is a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma and of Osage descent - says officials at her school approached her and told her to take off the ceremonial feather she was wearing.
Black attached an eagle plume to her mortarboard. The legal documents explain that this is a sacred object that was ceremonially bestowed on her at age three, which "represents the prayers of her Otoe-Missouria people for her life and protection."
Officials from Broken Arrow Public School had apparently tried to 'rip' off the feather when Black refused to remove it, explaining that it was a religious and significant item and not just a decoration.
The plume was "physically and ceremonially damaged," according to the lawsuit. Black herself suffered a panic attack in that moment.
Black's school says that they allow religious items to be worn at graduation, but students must submit to an "approval process." The process can be time-consuming - especially when the one administrator that looks at these submissions is on leave, which is what happened during Black's graduation.
