Imagine an organization called White Lives Matter that declares itself to be ‘White led’ and ‘unapologetically White’ and promotes hiring and retaining white teachers and teaching white history. Would this organization be allowed to provide curriculum and White Lives Matter posters and T-shirts to K-12 public schools? Of course not! That would violate a core value of our country which stipulates equality for all, regardless of immutable traits such as race. However, replace the word “White” with “Black”, and you have a description of Black Lives Matter, or BLM’s, Black Lives Matter Week of Action curriculum. BLM promotes their curriculum during the first week of February – February 5th this year – and in recent memory both Denver Public School District (DPS) and Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) have been eager to roll out the red carpet for this curriculum that encourages division along racial lines, as evidenced below.
The Black Lives Matter at School website features “A Guide for Black Lives Matter at School” which states, in part, that:
- “[T]here is a school-to-prison-pipeline system that is more invested in locking up youth than unlocking their minds.”
- “That system uses harsh discipline policies that push Black students out of schools at disproportionate rates”;
- The system “denies students the right to learn about their own cultures and whitewashes the curriculum to exclude many of the struggles and contributions of Black people and other people of color”; and
- The system “is pushing out Black teachers from the schools in cities from around the country.”
School children are not pawns for social justice; they attend school for an excellent education that encompasses language arts, mathematics, science, history, geography, fine arts, and physical education. While at school, children should be developing their academic minds while learning positive lessons about appreciating each person’s strengths. The BLM curriculum reiterates words like “injustice” and “prejudice” and shows images of hateful actions that depict a very narrow view of whites against blacks. The BLM curriculum manipulates children into believing that all whites are mean and uncaring toward other racial groups and that police officers working within our communities do not care about the very lives they have sworn to protect.
Children naturally focus on each other as individuals, and not members of a racial group. Children don’t forge friendships based on race, work with others based on race, learn from others based on race. BLM aims to divide us by race.
FAIR has created a resource packet for parents and educators in advance of Black Lives Matter at School Action Week, which begins on Monday, February 5th. Included in the packet are:
- A primer on Action Week and the related legal concerns
- A sample complaint form that can be completed and submitted to your respective Office of Civil Rights
- A template letter you can send to school administrators in advance of the Action Week
- Talking points and suggested resources for use in discussing this matter with children
We hope this information is helpful to you as you continue to advocate for the children in your life. Please contact us at [email protected] with questions and concerns. We would also love to hear your stories on how you successfully pushed-back against this divisive curriculum.
