Rainey Briggs, the Black superintendent who was pushed by a white dad at a high school graduation to prevent him from shaking his daughter’s hand, is speaking out about his experience.
On May 31, Matthew Eddy barged onto the stage at Baraboo High School’s graduation as his daughter was shaking hands with school officials. As she approached Briggs, the father jumped on stage, grabbed the superintendent by his arm and dragged him away from his daughter, viral video of the incident shows.
Briggs, who spoke with the Daily Mail, said he does not know whether Eddy was racially motivated when targeting him at last month’s graduation.
“The optics don’t look good,” Briggs told the outlet. “The optics are what people around the world have gotten to see. And it’s caused them to formulate in their minds what was behind this situation.”
“But ultimately, Mr. Eddy is the only one that could tell you whether it was racial or not.”
“It’s a predominantly white school district,” Briggs continued. “Do I think it’s consisting of students of color feeling like they don’t belong here? I think there are some pockets of that, possibly.”
Baraboo High School previously made national news in 2018 when a photo emerged depicting several current and former students doing the Nazi salute.
Briggs said he heard from Eddy’s lawyer on Monday evening, but has yet to hear from Eddy himself. The superintendent has filed a restraining order against Eddy, who now faces one charge of disorderly conduct.
“The outreach was really to indicate that he, [Eddy], understands his mishap in terms of what he did, what he’s caused,” Briggs told the Daily Mail. “He’s remorseful.”
“I took that as some form of apology, but that’s not something I think at this time amounts to a solid apology from my perspective,” he continued.
While Eddy has not directly apologized for the incident, he told police after the graduation he felt sorry for the impact his actions had on his daughter.
Briggs said his heart goes out to Eddy’s daughter and the other graduating students.
“This is a moment in time for them that they’ll never get back the way they had hoped for this to go,” the superintendent told the Daily Mail.
It is still not entirely clear why Eddy shoved Briggs off that graduation stage.
New police video that emerged earlier this week showed that Eddy falsely stated the superintendent touched him first — a claim that video footage of the graduation disproves.
“I didn’t touch him until he touched me,” Eddy told Baraboo Police Officer Brandon Meyer just minutes after the incident, according to footage first obtained by local outlet WISN 12.
In the footage, Eddy explained he was upset about a perceived slight by the school district, saying his daughter had to meet with school officials regarding expulsion. Eddy also claimed Briggs previously “rolled his eyes” when he spoke to him about his daughter.
The Baraboo School Board has since condemned Eddy’s behavior.
“No employee of the School District of Baraboo should fear for their physical safety when fulfilling their job duties or at any other time,” the school board stated. “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.”
