A white school principal who withheld the diplomas of two black students after they danced across the stage at their graduation says she suffered anti-white racism when she was removed from her position.
Lisa Mesi, the former head of the prestigious Philadelphia High School for Girls, withheld the diplomas of Hafsah Abdur-Rahman and Saleemah Burch in a viral video in 2023.
Abdur-Rahman had danced on stage as she went to retrieve her diploma, but was denied her moment by Mesi in accordance with longstanding rules stipulating students must walk silently to receive their certificate.
Burch flipped her hair and made a gesture, and someone clapped, which elicited the same response from Mesi.
Mesi was removed from her post after an outcry over her behavior and has now filed a lawsuit saying she was the victim or racial discrimination.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the suit says she was removed ‘as a form of discipline and given a demeaning ‘special assignment’ because she is white.
She filed it against the school district and Tomas Hanna, the associate superintendent who said she would be replaced over the incident.
It says that Mesi was the victim of ‘discriminatory and retaliatory actions’, and wouldn’t have happened had she been a person of color.
The suit alleges: ‘Had Mesi been a person of color, the school district would not have removed her as principal of Girls’ High and reassigned her to a lesser position.’
She took issue with the response from the district, alleging in the suit that they ‘threw her under the bus’.
Mesi says that was despite her ‘merely following the same graduation ceremony rule that he been observed by her predecessors’.
The rule being that any student who interrupted proceedings would not be handed their diploma.
She was removed from her position and informed she was would be the subject of an investigation.
The suit reveals that she was eventually found guilty of insubordination for ‘refusing to provide support for composing a public message’ to respond to the incident. Mesi claims that was a trumped-up allegation designed to get rid of her.
Mesi says she was then transferred to a central office job ‘with prejudice’ and spent the 2023-24 school year working on ‘simplistic and menial tasks’.
She described her new position as being ‘humiliating and demeaning’ in the lawsuit and not suitable for ‘someone of her caliber’.
Due to her disdain over her reassignment, she applied for other administrative jobs which included positions at two other schools, but both were rejected.
She claims that less-qualified black candidates were chosen for at least two of the jobs over her before she landed a new position as principal of Feltonville Arts and Sciences School.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, School board President Reginald Streater said her withholding of the diplomas allowed for ‘nonmaterial antiquated norms [to] preclude moments of inclusive joy that often follow moments of achievement/recognition.’
Ted Domers, her supervisor, told her in an email that ‘your actions demonstrated a lack of respect to the students and their.
‘I understand that the decision to withhold the diploma from students at graduation is based on the Girls’ High tradition.
‘However, it is my belief that this practice is, at best, outdated, and, at worst, a practice that lacks an awareness of culturally responsive norms.’
Domers would go on to leave the district not long after the incident, and was replaced by Hanna.
The suit claims it was Hanna and school district spokesperson Monique Braxton who ‘pressured and attempted to compel’ Mesi to issue an apology.
Mesi claims that Braxton told her that ‘if you were a Black woman, this would not be happening’.
She is seeking unknown damages for emotional pain, reputational harm, loss of earnings, and opportunities for professional advancement.
‘She stole that moment from me,’ Abdur-Rahman told local television station WPVI at the time. ‘I will never get that again.’
She said the moment was in honor of her sister who was killed by a stray bullet aged 15 in 2014 and was never able to graduate.
The student cried following the rejection and said she was ‘so embarrassed’.
‘I couldn’t even enjoy the rest of the graduation,’ she added ‘I understood the rules because I was saying “shh” in the video.
‘Do not say nothing because I want my diploma. ‘I knew and understood what we were supposed to do.’
Abdur-Rahman said the principal told her she could not receive her diploma because of the laughter following her dance move.
She said: ‘If they thought that I shouldn’t do the Griddy across the stage and do the Girls’ 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. I feel like that’s unfair.’
Abdur-Rahman claimed the assistant superintendent of the school reached out to her and her mother to apologize for the incident.
Saleemah Burch, 18, said she was denied her diploma on stage for making a gesture which the guests reacted to.
‘When they called Saleemah’s name, my younger son, we had our hands together, and we just put our hands in the air,’ her mother Delsa Burch said. ‘No one made a noise.’