In Dallas, Texas —at Emmett J. Conrad High School— graduation ceremonies were underway, celebrating the trials and obstacles its senior class had overcome. When valedictorian Rooha Haghar got up to speak, her speech was going well. All seemed fine — that is until she mentioned the names of Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, two unarmed African-American kids who were gunned down without cause.

In footage below, the valedictorian speech is cut short coincidentally at the very moment Principal Temesghen Asmerom is seen giving a signal to someone in the back of the room.

The principal didn't "cut short" the valedictorian speech when she talked about kids who were killed in mass shootings. However, the moment she mentioned Trayvon and Tamir, suddenly there was a "technical issue" with the microphone. And as soon as Principal Asmerom tapped on the mic, it was operational again. Right.

"My valedictorian speech was cut short because I said the names of black children who had become victims of police brutality," Haghar states via Twitter.

According to Haghar, the principal signaled for her mic's cut off and played it as a "technical difficulty."

Principal Temesghen Asmerom

According to NBC News, the source reached out to the principal for a comment. However, he had not responded at the time of this report. Nevertheless, the Dallas Independent School District issued a statement regarding the speech cut off.

Reportedly, the administration is "looking into this matter." Yet, the district says it encourages students to use their voices and speak their minds. However, according to the valedictorian, she had given her speech to the principal for review, and she says he specifically told her to exclude the section on Trayvon and Tamir.

Via the valedictorian's Twitter page, she expounds on the situation. Haghar says that the principal told her that their names would "incite anger towards white people." Even more, the principal reportedly states that white Americans are a group of citizens encountering high levels of discrimination in the United States. The valedictorian says the principal told her to completely remove that line from her speech. "I didn't," she mentions in the following tweet. For real, you can't make this stuff up, folks. If you're interested in reading the rest, the valedictorian's full statement is located below.

CBS News reports that —although her speech was cut short— the valedictorian says she knew the risks of keeping their names in her statement.

However, she notes that she never thought she'd get "silenced" for it. According to NBC News, the valedictorian wanted to bring the topic to light because she knows it's "a reality that black families have to deal with" in a world full of injustice.
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