Black Lives Matter Is a Political Movement and Does Not Belong in Our Nation’s Schools

Many Americans have long held the belief that our nation’s government schools should be free from political indoctrination, but what does it mean to have a politically neutral public school classroom? Does it mean teachers should be careful about promoting some political ideologies while demonizing others? Should teachers be allowed to pass out Bernie Sanders stickers or kick out students sporting MAGA hats? Would it be appropriate to have students recite a Black Lives Matter pledge or promote the NRA? Where do we draw the line?

These are tough questions with no easy answers, and the Left has capitalized on this ambiguity to push what were previously seen as acceptable limits further and further.

As a former public school teacher of 15 years, I saw the left’s creeping political agendas quickly become part of the standard curriculum in many of our nation’s schools. Black Lives Matter, gender theory, climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, pride flags, third-wave feminism, and, of course, relentless and loud hatred for President Trump all became prevalent in classrooms. In my former school district, one teacher even displayed a painting of Trump as a pig on the door of his classroom. Is this the new standard? Does the Left honestly believe that they are society’s moral compass and that their positions aren’t merely political but also what’s ethically correct?

American taxpayers tend to agree there must be limits on political indoctrination in tax-funded government schools with compulsory attendance laws. Otherwise, schools become very close to indoctrination camps. In a neutral classroom, no public school teacher should promote a political party or candidate for office to their students. But what about policy issues? What if, instead of promoting one political party and demonizing the other, teachers simply promoted all the platform issues of one party while demonizing the policy positions of the other? How would that be any functionally different? The answer is there is no difference. And that’s precisely what the Left does today.

Black Lives Matter Movement

Consider the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and its often prominent place in our nation’s schools. During Black History Month, in my former school district in California, posters of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor lined the halls, usurping black historical figures like Fredrick Douglas and George Washington Carver.

The common excuse for pushing schoolchildren into supporting the openly Marxist movement was that all people should care about black lives. That was the cover, and at least on the surface it sounded plausible. High-profile deaths like Floyd’s were used to prove white supremacy or systemic racism. Proponents of the movement would say supporting Black Lives Matter is not the Left’s political agenda, just the morally just thing to do.

Cajune v. Independent School District 194

A 2023 court decision in Minnesota has ruled that public schools can display “Black Lives Matter” posters without displaying other viewpoints, like a Back the Blue poster. This decision came after outraged parents, who view Black Lives Matter posters as political statements that violate the political neutrality they believed should govern public schools. The parents voiced their concerns. They simply wanted a poster that displayed another point of view for balance, like an All Lives Matter poster. How is it fair or neutral if one side of the political spectrum is allowed to push its agendas on our nation’s children while the other side is silenced? In a truly neutral system, both Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter posters should not be displayed in public school classrooms. But if we allow one, how is it fair to not allow the other?

In his ruling, Federal District Court Judge Jerry Blackwell argued:

Following George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, school administrators, staff, and teachers joined much of the country in finding ways to support their students, including Black students. For its part in those efforts, in April 2021, the school board for the Lakeville, Minnesota, public school district vetted and authorized a multicultural poster series that included two posters with the phrase “Black Lives Matter.”

Only some people supported the decision. Believing the posters carried political messages, some parents and students objected to hanging “Black Lives Matter” posters without displaying various other viewpoints. After the school board denied those requests, the objectors challenged the school board’s action by filing a lawsuit claiming First Amendment violations. “Because the display of the posters constitutes government speech not subject to First Amendment challenge, the school board’s motion is granted, and Plaintiffs’ lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice.”

Political Indoctrination

I firmly disagree with this judge. “Black Lives Matter” is a very loaded phrase, a political statement that firmly aligns with certain policy positions and one political party. Black Lives Matter is a left-wing political movement based on the premise that the police are systematically racist, targeting black Americans, and should be dismantled or at least defunded. When you hear the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” it does not mean the lives of children being gunned down in gang crossfire on the streets of Chicago. It does not include the lives of black babies being aborted at an alarming and disproportionate rate. It does not include the lives of black Americans dying from the opioid crisis. Black Lives Matter is not a blanket statement covering the challenges of all black lives.

Black Lives Matter is a rallying cry for a specific population: black suspected criminals, who are usually resisting arrest and are killed by the police. And with this comes a list of recommended laws to fix this “problem,” a list of preferred positions close to the far-left wing of one political party.

Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 50 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, introduced the Breathe Act at the height of the George Floyd Riots. It contains some of the most radical left-leaning positions and policies I have ever seen. I took the time to read the entire Breathe Act so that you don’t have to. Here is a quick and dirty summary of some of its radical agenda.

In summary:

1. Abolish all police agencies.
2. Abolish ICE.
3. Legalize prostitution.
4. Empty all federal prisons within 10 years.
5. Drop and expunge all charges for drug offenses.
6. Close all juvenile detention centers.
7. Close all private detention centers.
8. Decriminalize most gang activities.
9. Have only trained counselors respond to domestic violence 911 calls.
10. Close all immigration detention facilities.
11. Abolish the Border Patrol.
12. No drug testing of those on probation.
13. Reduce the Department of Defense by 50 percent.
14. Give housing vouchers to those leaving prison.
15. Give monthly stipends to those leaving prison.
16. End all life sentences.
17. Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences.
18. Raise the age of criminal liability to 24.
19. Legalize most sex trafficking, including online.
20. Legalize most drug offenses, including intent to sell.

It’s political indoctrination under the thinly veiled disguise of caring for (certain) black people.

These demands aren’t the commonly shared human rights beliefs of a moral society but the wishes of radical Marxists, working tirelessly to turn our country into a dystopian hellhole. And they are indoctrinating our children to get their desired future.

Let’s stop kidding ourselves; public schools abandoned the myth of political neutrality long ago. Even the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country, has declared that education is political. They assert that “discussing human rights and equity”—code words for discriminating against straight white people—“should be welcomed in the classrooms, not dismissed as partisanship or politics.” But whose definition of human rights are they talking about? Would a teacher be allowed to create a White Lives Matter poster or a Straight Pride Flag? Of course not. The woke mob would work to get that teacher fired immediately.

So that’s how they play the game. Don’t push a political party, just all the policy positions of the far Left, while silencing the opposing views. Claiming those policy positions aren’t political but moral is crucial.

All of this, mind you, is based on a lie that police are essentially hunting unarmed black men in the streets. But they never follow the facts. They move right past any discussion of truth, straight into action based on their faulty arguments. They’ve even gone so far as to begin training students for activism in these causes. I’ve seen it. It’s all an obvious farce.

But if no one calls them on it and stops them, it won’t end. Without exaggeration, if they are not stopped, our children will become soldiers in the Marxist revolution, like those of Orwell’s 1984, turning in their parents for thought crimes. But don’t worry, it’s not political. It’s just the right thing to do. Or so we’re told.