County School officials said the fact that the sound was cut near the end of the speech by Central High School valedictorian KayOnna Carson was "by no means intentional."
Ms. Carson ended her speech with "No Justice. No Peace."
Central High School Principal Phil Iannaronne said, “DayOnna Carson, Valedictorian of the Class of 2020 at Central High School, delivered an excellent graduation speech at the Central High ceremony on Saturday. We apologize to DayOnna and her family that the last words of her speech were not able to be heard by those in attendance or by family and friends viewing on the live stream. This was by no means intentional.
"Her message of legacy, racial justice, and civil rights was timely. Without question, DayOnna is the epitome of excellence that we desire as a school, and we look forward to seeing all that she will accomplish as she goes on to attend Harvard University this fall.”
Chief of Equity and Student Supports Dr. Marsha Drake said, “Each year I select to attend the graduation ceremony at Central High School as the district representative because I had the opportunity of serving many of the graduates as their elementary school principal. This year was no different as I was in attendance, and DayOnna’s remarks addressed some of the most important issues of the day.
"Ensuring that racism and discrimination of any kind are eliminated remains key to every community and within our school district. As DayOnna stated in her speech, ‘Change starts with ourselves; change starts with our community.’
"We look forward to the impact DayOnna, and the class of 2020 will have on our world and we are proud of each of them.”