A father in Madison, Wisconsin has gone viral after rushing the stage during his daughter’s high school graduation and shoving the district’s Black superintendent. As Complex reported, the viral clip shows the father jumping onto the stage as his daughter shook hands with administrators and prepared to receive her Baraboo High School diploma. Superintendent Rainey Briggs was blindsided as the father suddenly came onto the stage and grabbed his elbow to shove him aside.
“You better get up off me, man,” Briggs can be heard saying in the background after he was shoved away from the camera. “Get away from me, bro.”
As the chaos continued off-screen, administrators rushed to intervene. The father is heard arguing with administrators in the background.
“That’s my daughter,” he said. “I don’t want him touching her.”
The man’s daughter was visibly distraught as she saw her father making a scene on her special day. When the situation was handled minutes later, Briggs returned to the stage and received cheers from the crowd as the graduation resumed. The father, however, received boos from the audience amid the bizarre scene.
Superintendent Rainey Briggs was attacked during the Baraboo High School graduation. The unnamed attacker, was a “father” who didn’t want his graduating daughter to shake the hand of a Black man, so he ruined her moment
That’s racism for you in 2024#Graduation #Fight pic.twitter.com/wBdPjLVkQO— Did you see that? 🤣 (@TheTVAddicted) June 3, 2024
The father continued to face backlash on social media, with several people calling him out for being racist.
AmeriKKKa. This girl’s graduation ceremony was ruined by her father because he didn’t want her to shake hands with a Black administrator. Why did it take so long for all of the other white folks to jump in? Racism is violent, racism is humiliating, and racism is destructive. https://t.co/12SLbmsFAU
— Ambereen Dadabhoy 🪬 (@DrDadabhoy) June 5, 2024
Briggs appears to be the only Black administrator who was on stage during the graduation.
Most white people have zero concept of what it’s like to be the sole member of their race, in a professional setting—but nearly all Black people know this feeling.
Fact is, it is very likely that Superintendent Rainey Briggs experiences and is forced to deal with racism daily. https://t.co/qEtEH3T1Ic pic.twitter.com/NNRjkoALdB
— Jay P (@JohnathanPerk) June 5, 2024
According to WMTV 15, Baraboo School District filed a temporary restraining order against the father; a judge granted the request. In a statement, Briggs said the man approached the stage quickly and put both hands on him to push him out of the way. The father, according to Briggs, said “You are not going to touch my (expletive) daughter.”
“At that time I created space and stated ‘Get your hands off me,’” Briggs stated, per WMTV15. “M****** then began to push and pry at me and I again put my hands out to keep M****** away from me. This took place in front of 2-3 thousand people.”
The School Board also condemned the father, saying: “No employee of the School District of Baraboo should fear for their physical safety when fulfilling their job duties or at any other time. That 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 father is not facing charges at this time.
