Kymberly Wimberly has a huge disadvantage.  And it's not that she has a funny name that rhymes.

She's a teenage mom.

Still, she managed to stay in school.  In fact, she got only a single B in her 4 years at McGehee Secondary School, and loaded up on Honors and Advanced Placement classes. She had the best grades in her high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, thus making her valedictorian.

Oh… one more thing about Kymberly Wimberly.  She's black.

Black high school kids in Little Rock Arkansas.  What could possibly go wrong there?

Yup, you guessed it.  Apparently we haven't progressed much from this:

Because it seems that the principal of McGehee Secondary School wanted to avoid the “big mess” that would have ensued if Wimberly had been named sole valedictorian.  I mean, can you imagine her being applauded at graduation by McGehee’s majority-white parents?  So the principal, Darrell Thompson, told Kimberly's mother “that he decided to name a white student as co-valedictorian,” although the white student had a lower G.P.A.

Lawsuit, you say?  You bet.  A big honkin' one.

So, Principal Thompson — how's that "avoiding a big mess" working out for you?