WASHINGTON—Mississippi has one of the worst graduation rates in America. When Lanarcia Walker was called to the stage to receive her high school diploma, her proud brother shouted four congratulatory words.

“You did it, baby,” Henry Walker said.

The superintendent of Senatobia High’s school district, Jay Foster, had warned the crowd not to cheer until the end of the procession. He got Walker thrown out of the building. He wasn’t finished.

Soon after the May 21 ceremony, Foster went to the police department and pressed “disturbing the peace” charges against Walker and at least two other non-silent relatives of Senatobia grads. In Mississippi, disturbing the peace is punishable by a fine of up to $500 and up to six months in the county jail.

“The fact that I might have to bond out of jail, pay court costs, or a $500 fine for expressing my love — it’s ridiculous, man,” Walker told Memphis television station WREG. “It’s ridiculous.”

Ursula Miller told WREG that she was charged merely for shouting the name of her graduate niece. According to a document she showed WREG, Foster accused her of disturbing his personal peace.

“Did wilfully and unlawfully disturb the public peace of Jay Foster … by use of loud boisterous noise, by yelling and clapping while inside the building after announcement had been made for all to hold their applause and celebrating until after the end of the ceremony by Superintendent Jay Foster,” the document says.

Walker and Miller are due in court on June 9. They are both black.

The case became international news on Wednesday, another perceived example of the petty persecution of African-Americans. Foster, who did not respond to a request for comment, sees the episode as a teachable moment of another sort.

“My point is not to have somebody have to pay money, but I want them to know there are consequences for their behaviour, and I want us to have a dignified service,” he told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

“So many things these days, if I had to sum it up in a few words, it’s all about me. But this is not,” he said. “This is about the graduates.”

Senatobia is a city of about 8,000 near Memphis. It made national news in 2013 for imposing a ban on low-riding underwear-revealing trousers.

Mayor Alan Callicott refused to comment on the latest uproar, calling the charges “a school district matter” unconnected to the city government. Charles Irvin, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, said Walker and Miller were “just celebrating a loved one.”

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Irvin said it is impossible to know if race was a factor in the charges. But he said Foster had chosen “heavy-handedness” over common sense.

“If, in fact, the overriding factor is that you want to make sure everyone’s name is heard, a simple pause in the program may be in order,” he said. “Instead of handcuffs.”