EXCLUSIVE: 'Black lives don't mean s***!' Family of first black valedictorian in 'segregated' Mississippi town are targeted by trolls after claiming she was forced to share honor with a white student

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A black family suing to get their daughter recognized as sole valedictorian of her historically white high school has been devastated by a string of racist hate messages.

Sherry Shepard is suing the school district in the Delta town of Cleveland, Mississippi, alleging her daughter was forced to share the school's top honor with a white girl, despite earning the accolade outright.

But since news of the lawsuit broke she has been hit by a barrage of vile posts attacking her and her daughter Jasmine.

'You n*****s and your self entitled actions make me sick,' wrote Jacob Francis on a Facebook page JusticeForJasmine. 'You shouldn't even be at the same school as white people!'

Jasmine Shepard was the 2016 co-valedictorian at Cleveland High School, but she claims she should have been the sole valedictorian because she was in more AP classes than her counterpart. She was also the first black valedictorian

Cleveland High School is a historically white high school and the student body is currently 50 percent white, 50 percent black

Heather Bouse shared was the other co-valedictorian at Cleveland High School in 2016. The Shepards believe Jasmine should have been the sole recipient since she was in more AP classes which qualifies her according to the district's rules

He ended his foul message: 'Black lives don't mean s***!'

Jasmine responded with her own message. 'Throughout my life, my parents shielded me from (such) behavior…, but now I see that I will have to face this head on,' she wrote.

'You can send me these types of messages but those sentiments will not be returned.'

But still messages keep coming. David St Clair, who said he was Canadian, wrote: 'You're simply butthurt that another student is white and you feel like you deserve special attention simply based on the color of your skin.'

Stephen Bearden called Sherry Shepard a 'thieving racist' in one post and suggested she should be sued for slander in another. 'Feel free to leave Mississippi and live in Iraq or Syria,' he wrote in a third.

And Eric Rowe added: 'Stop playing the "I'M BLACK SO I'M SPECIAL" card and put on your grown-up pants.'

Jameson Oxford Baker II called both Jasmine and Sherry 'racist' and 'b****' in two separate posts. 'Using god to disguise your hatred sent you straight to hell,' he told Sherry.

Sherry and white student Heather Bouse were named co-valedictorians at Cleveland High School in May last year. The school district says they had identical grades.

But the Shepards claim that because Jasmine took more AP classes, the district's own rules meant that she should have won the title outright.

They say the school has never had co-valedictorians before - nor has a black student ever been awarded the honor outright at any time in the school's 110-year history.

'You shouldn't even be at the same school as white people!' Trolls bombarded Jasmine Shepard online and the family fears for their safety

The Facebook page JusticeForJasmine was created to support Shepard. However, some use the platform to make racist and intimidating comments. Stephen Bearden wrote: 'Feel free to leave Mississippi and live in Iraq or Syria'

Cleveland is divided between the west and east side of he tracks. Homes west of the tracks were historically where white people lived while black people lived on the east side

Both mother and daughter declined to talk to DailyMail.com. 

'There is so much going on right now We have to be concerned for the safety and security of everyone,' Jasmine's aunt, Sheila Shepard, said on the doorstep of their single-story home in Cleveland.

Last month Sherry told the Washington Post: 'A child, when they earn honors, they are entitled to receive them.'

She claimed that Jasmine was told to walk behind co-valedictorian Heather — who Jasmine called 'the sweetest thing' — but she objected and was allowed to walk alongside her.

Cleveland school district said it will fight the Shepards' lawsuit, claiming it maintains a  racially neutral policy and claimed the students has the same GPA even though Jasmine took more AP classes 

Last year at the time of the graduation, both Jasmine and Heather told CNN that blacks and whites at Cleveland High got on well together. 'We're more progressive than most people see we are,' said Heather. 'We get along much better than they think we do.'

The school district has vowed to fight the Shepards' lawsuit. In a statement, attorney Jamie Jacks called the action 'frivolous.'

'The district has a racially neutral policy regarding the valedictorian honor,' Jacks added. 'The policy is when there is a grade point average tie between two or more students, the students share the valedictorian honor.

'In this case, the district followed its policy. The students involved had identical grade point averages and shared the valedictorian honor.'

School principal Steven Craddock and supervisor Jacquelyn Thigpen are also named in the Shepards' suit which seeks an unspecified monetary settlement. Craddock referred DailyMail.com to Jacks for comment. Thigpen did not return calls.

This is far from the first time that Cleveland School District — or the town itself — has found itself at the center of a race-based scandal.

Sherry (left) and Jasmine (right) Shepard both declined to speak to DailyMail.com out of fear for their safety

School principal Steven Craddock (left) and supervisor Jacquelyn Thigpen (right) are mentioned in the Shepards' lawsuit. Attorney Jamie Jacks called the action 'frivolous'

 Cleveland sits in the middle of the Delta, the area known for the blues and for clinging on to Jim Crow regulations.

For decades, cotton was king in the area, although fields around Cleveland now largely grow soybeans, corn and rice.

Cleveland was relatively prosperous thanks to the railroad that ran through the middle of town. But that brought its own divide, homes west of the tracks were for whites, while blacks lived in shacks on the east side.

Over the years the gap between east and west has narrowed but there is still a stark difference between the one-room shacks in the southeast of town and the million dollar Mcmansions that have sprung up in the northwest.

Sherry and Jasmine Shepard live in an east side area of solid brick homes and neatly trimmed lawns. But locals say it was built for whites who virtually all moved out when one black family moved in.

The town, which has a population of less than 13,000, has had two high schools, Cleveland High, which was historically white, although in recent years has had a student body split almost 50/50 between white and black students, and East Side which had just one white in its entire student body last year.

The two schools — and the district's two middle schools which had similar racial demographics — are consolidating after the summer break to conform with a federal order, which has been bitterly contested by the school board for half a century.

Cleveland is the last of 43 school districts to comply to federal desegregation orders, says the government.

But many feel that white parents will now pull their children from the new public high school — to be called Cleveland Central — because their children will be only about one third of the total students.

'It's happening already from what I hear,' the Rev. Ed Duvall, a supporter of the Shepards' case, told DailyMail.com. 'Nobody wants that.'

Cleveland is approximately 50 percent white, 50 percent black. Cleveland was the last of 43 school districts to comply to federal desegregation orders

'This fight is bigger than Jasmine Shepard': Rev. Ed Duvall (right) told DailyMail.com the Cleveland school district needs to be exposed for its history of racism

Isaac Shorter, a former Black Panther, said the changes in Cleveland are just superficial regarding institutionalized racism 

Duvall, pastor of the Homestretch Baptist Church on the outskirts of town, said Jasmine Shepard's case is important even if in a few years' time no-one will remember whether Jasmine was valedictorian or co-valedictorian.

'It does matter,' he said. 'The Cleveland School District needs to be exposed for the evil that it has perpetrated on the black folk over so many years.

'There is no going forward until there is an admission that they have done the people wrong.'

Duvall, a graduate of East Side High, said he even pulled his son out of Cleveland High in 10th Grade when he realized he would never be allowed to be valedictorian and put him in East Side where he won the title.

'This fight is bigger than Jasmine Shepard,' he said. 'How do we move forward and come together and trust each other when this remains hanging over our heads?'

Duvall fears that if white parents pull their children from the school, spending on public education in town will be cut as many taxpayers won't want to support what they will see as education just for African Americans.

West side: While over the years the gap between east and west has narrowed, there is still a stark divide in the way people live

East side: The east side of town was historically where black people live. East Side High School had just one white student in its entire student body last year 

'That is what has happened in other parts of the Delta,' he said. Cleveland is about the only place that large numbers of whites still send their children to the public schools.'

Gary Bouse, Heather's father, told DailyMail.com the family had nothing to say about the matter.

And that is the reaction from most whites in town. They are loathe to talk publicly about the case for fear of appearing racially insensitive. Most moved on quickly, shrugging their shoulders or rolling their eyes when asked for their views.

'Dr. Shepard is just dragging up the past,' said one who declined to give her name. 'Cleveland is past all that now.'

But African Americans largely disagree. Isaac Shorter — a former Black Panther who hit the headlines in 1973 for turning off the power at a Chrysler plant in Detroit and starting the first major sit-down strike in three-and-a-half decades — says the changes in Cleveland are just superficial.

'It is important that Jasmine gets recognized properly,' said Shorter, 69, sitting on the bed in his one-room home, surrounded by his photo albums. 'Black kids need to know this for their future.'