Schools across the country are celebrating national “Black Lives Matter at School” week which teaches students about “restorative justice,” “globalism” and to be “trans-affirming,” according to the curriculum.
National “Black Lives Matter at School” week, which takes place from Feb. 6 to 10, focuses K-12 curriculums on 13 guiding principles including “restorative justice,” trans-affirmation and “diversity and globalism,” according to the curriculum. Through lesson plans, suggested reading, documentaries and activities, students learn about “structural racism” and how to be activists for the movement.
“Black Lives Matter (BLM), as a political movement and an organization, has been proven to be a corrupted trojan horse that hijacks public education and injects hate and division into our young students,” Wenyuan Wu, executive director of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, a group that focused on combating racial discrimination, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The national group suggests schools start the week teaching about “restorative justice, empathy and loving engagement,” the curriculum showed. Lessons include “Who You Gonna Call, exploring alternatives to policing” which asks students to read articles that detail how to rely on community organizations rather than the police and participate in a workshop that discovers “viable alternatives to policing.”
On day two, educators are advised to focus on “diversity and globalism” with suggested reading on Palestine including “Determined to Stay,” a story about Palestinians fighting for their land against “Israeli efforts,” the lesson plans stated. Educators are given suggested lessons on diversity, including “Teaching Tolerance,” which features an “anti-racism activity” where first through fifth-grade students learn about “unfair practices” and discrimination using Dr. Seuss’s picture book, The Sneetches.
During the week, students learn about “homophobia and transphobia” and to “recognize that LGBTQ people exist,” the curriculum showed. A suggested lesson plan for third through sixth graders focuses on the past of LGBTQ people and “events in American history that are often omitted from textbooks.”
A guiding principle of the week includes “black families” with lessons on the patriarchy, its “system of oppression” and the privileges men have over women, the curriculum showed. Suggested reading for the guiding principle includes the picture book “My Rainbow,” a story about a mom who makes a rainbow wig for her transgender daughter.
Schools throughout the country have begun their celebration of the week; San Diego Unified School District raised a BLM flag below the American flag on Wednesday, according to KPBS News. In Maryland, Howard County Schools began teaching the BLM at Schools curriculum on “Diversity and Globalism” including lessons on “speciesism,” a type of oppression against animals.
“I understand and can advocate for the principles of Black Lives Matter,” the lesson plans state.
Milwaukee Public Schools is hosting events in honor of “Black Lives Matter at School” week including “BLM Family Night” where families can participate in “cultural experiences” at the Black Holocaust Museum, according to the school website. Shoreline Public Schools in Washington plans to celebrate the week in order to help students “understand inequities based on race” and to “affirm that the lives of people of color matter,” the school district website showed.
BLM at School raised more than $103,000 for its national week of action as of Friday, according to its website. Several teachers unions have backed the week-long event in the country’s schools including the National Education Association, Chicago Teachers Union and the Virginia Education Association.
“Giving the BLM brand legitimacy in public schools is handing ideologies, radicals and groomers a license to harm our next generation,” Wu told the DCNF. “Any education leader interested in building awareness on the history and struggles of the African American community should seek meaningful policy solutions rather than virtue-signaling.”
BLM at School, San Diego Unified School District, Howard County Schools, Milwaukee Public Schools and Shoreline Public Schools did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
