Overview:
The incident occurred on May 31 at Baraboo High School’s graduation.
A new police report reveals the explanation a white father gave to officers for shoving a Black school superintendent off the stage at a Wisconsin graduation at Baraboo High School to stop him from shaking his graduating daughter’s hand.
The incident occurred on May 31 at Baraboo High School’s graduation. Matthew Eddy walked onto the stage as his daughter shook hands with school officials. When she approached Superintendent Rainey Briggs, who is Black, Eddy jumped on stage, grabbed Briggs by the arm, and dragged him away, as captured in a viral video.
“He put both of his hands on me to push me out of the way, stating, ‘You are not going to touch my (expletive) daughter,’” Briggs told police. “At that time, I created space and stated, ‘Get your hands off me.’”
Eddy has been charged with disorderly conduct, and Briggs has filed a restraining order against him.
According to the police report, Eddy told officers he “had past issues with Rainey and dislikes him.” He said he “wanted to prevent Rainey from having the satisfaction of shaking” his daughter’s hand, “so he went onto the stage to prevent that from happening.”
The report describes the push as “pre-planned” and notes that Eddy regretted the incident, but only because of its impact on his daughter.
“We would like to emphasize that the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community members is a top priority,” Baraboo School District spokesperson Hailey Wagner said in a statement.
The Baraboo School Board also condemned the incident, stating, “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.”
While the police report does not include evidence that the incident was racially motivated, David Hart, president of Blacks for Political and Social Action of Dane County, expressed concern about Briggs’ treatment. “After Dr. Briggs was pushed out of the way and prevented from doing his job, it does not appear that anyone checked on Dr. Briggs’ welfare, and he was forced to continue on amid this trauma,” Hart told WMTV 5. “While this incident could certainly have race-neutral explanations, the treatment of Dr. Briggs looks all too familiar to us.”
Community members shared similar concerns. “This is absolutely wild that this isn’t already being called out for the outright racism that it is,” one user commented on Facebook. “I know there are criticisms of Dr. Briggs, some of which may be valid, but nothing that would remotely justify anything like this. It’s a handshake. What century are we in?”
Baraboo High School previously made national news in 2018 when a photo emerged of several current and former students performing the Nazi salute.