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Sam Blackledge was the 2018 valedictorian of Illinois\u2019 West Prairie High School. As per tradition, he had prepared a speech to give before his classmates during the graduation ceremony. Minutes before Blackledge was to take the stage, however, school administrators demanded that the 18 year old modify his speech. The ordered alterations included the removal of any reference to Jesus, God or Blackledge\u2019s Christian faith.<\/p>\n
Blackledge was heartbroken. \u201cI never felt that feeling before. It was terrible. I felt like I wanted to cry,\u201d he said. For months, Blackledge had planned to reference Jesus during the speech because Blackledge\u2019s Christian faith is a core part of his identity. Instead, as he prepared to take the stage, he was told that he could not speak to his assembled classmates at all. Eventually the school administrators agreed that Blackledge could give a \u201cvery generic\u201d speech so long as it contained no religious references.<\/p>\n
Blackledge, however, saw that as deeply problematic. \u201cThe most important thing in my life is Christ,\u201d he said. \u201cChrist is the only reason I was a valedictorian. He\u2019s the reason I got that 4.0. If it wasn\u2019t for Him, I wouldn\u2019t be up there. I was giving Him credit for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the discriminatory censorship, Blackledge is considering taking the issue to court. He has retained attorney Jeremy Dys from the non-profit group First Liberty Institute. Dys agrees that West Prairie High School\u2019s actions violated Blackledge\u2019s rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. \u201cThey actually violated the Constitution,\u201d Dys said. \u201cThey\u2019d do well to remember, as \u2018Tinker v. Des Moines,\u2019 the case in 1969, reminds us, that students do not shed their constitutional rights when they walk through the schoolhouse gates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sadly, Blackledge is far from the only student in recent years to have been banned from referencing religion on graduation day. There has been a disturbing rash of similar censorship over the past few years, but Blackledge refuses to back down. \u201cThere\u2019s always people out there that will go against what I have to say, and nobody always agrees, but I believe this is the truth,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s impacted my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blackledge is set to meet with the superintendent, Carol Kilver, but no one is entirely sure how the meeting will go. The school is also speaking with legal counsel and has refused to comment on the issue of violating Blackledge\u2019s First Amendment rights. Still, Blackledge said that he has received the support of many in his community, and whether he is aware of it or not, he also has the support of Americans across the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sam Blackledge was the 2018 valedictorian of Illinois\u2019 West Prairie High School. As per tradition, he had prepared a speech to give before his classmates during the graduation ceremony. Minutes before Blackledge was to take the stage, however, school administrators demanded that the 18 year old modify his speech. The ordered alterations included the removal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[31,70,71],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-news","tag-anti-christian","tag-censorship","tag-graduation"],"yoast_head":"\n